The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival (
As usual, European and Asian movies constitute the backbone of the program, the films of which have been selected from major film festivals throughout the year such as those at Cannes in France, Berlin, Venice in Italy and Busan in South Korea. A string of special screenings, panel discussions, guest speeches will also be held throughout the festival.
The Warner Village Cinema in Xinyi district has been packed since yesterday. Many of the screenings have already sold out but there are still chances to enjoy some good films..
Master class
The Masterpiece section is a collection of works by renowned or revered filmmakers, such as Eric Rohmer, Alain Resnais and Jean-Luc Godard from France, Werner Herzog and Wim Wenders from Germany, Woody Allen and Robert Altman from US. Regrettably, most of these screenings have sold out.
Eric Rohmer's Triple Agent is the 84 year-old master's re-interpretation of European history in the 1930s. The lead character is a Russian spy living in Paris with his Greek artist wife. The Spanish Civil War breaks out and World War II is about to begin. The story slowly unravels the triple identity of the lead actor and the moral complex he faces.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF GOLDEN HORSE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Also, Alain Resnais returns this year, this time with a musical, Not On the Lips. Set in the 1920s, it is a mixture of romantic drama and satire, with sophisticated singing and dancing sequences.
The Company by Robert Altman is a documentary-style film about ballet dancers' struggles and artistic achievements. Neve Campbell plays the struggling dancer in a Chicago ballet company.
Che Guevara revisited
Another section is a collection of world cinema films from major film festivals in the past year. It is a popular section among moviegoers. Motorcycle Diaries, an adaptation of Cuban revolutionary hero Che Guevara's autobiography, starring Mexican young star Gael Garcia, has quickly sold out. The same has happened with Nine Songs, another work by English director Michael Winterbottom that explores rock 'n' roll and sex.
But there are still good movies available in this section, such as The Singing Detective, a black comedy about a terminally ill writer's fantasy world, where he imagines the hospital as a gangster world and himself as a detective who loves to sing. Robert Downey Jr. plays the singing detective and Adrien Brody, Robin Wright Penn and Mel Gibson make guest appearances.
Bon Voyage is a French star-studded movie, about love and loyalty in Paris under the German occupation in World War II. It's a film with action, adventure and suspense starring Isabelle Adjani, Virginie Ledoyen and Gerard Depardieu.
The Suit by Russian director Bakhtyar Khudojnazarov is another film worth watching which has been neglected by movie fans. It uses a flowing and fluent lens to look at the careless lives of three young men from a small town near the Black Sea. The three boys dream of having a suit that makes them look flashy. But the suit also brings them trouble.
Window on Asia
Asian Window this year sees the rising filmmaking power of Taiwan's neighboring countries, Thailand, South Korea and The Philippines. Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Cannes winning film,Tropical Malady begins with a romance between a military officer and a soldier, in a quiet town in Northern Thailand. The story then enters the jungle with the two lead characters searching for the legendary White Tiger Spirit.
Woman is the Future of Man is South Korea's Cannes entry. Director Hong Sang-soo tells an intriguing love triangle story. Keka, by Filipino director Quark Henares is a fast-paced powerful action movie about Keka, the merciless hit woman. She turns herself into a killer after her boyfriend is assassinated in a student protest. While she is being sharpened as a professional killer, a romance happens between her and a police officer in charge of capturing her.
Made in Germany
Made In Germany is a new section at Golden Horse. German films are especially spotlighted after the film Head-On swept the Berlin Film Festival and German Academy Awards. The film explores deep about love and life hardship of second generation Turkish immigrants in Germany. Unfortunately tickets for the film quickly sold out.
Also worth-watching is Berlin Blues, about an artistic bartender, living in West Berlin, ruminating the fun-loving days before the Berlin Wall came down. A big change takes places to his life and the whole country. The film presents an intriguing contrast with another award-winning film, Goodbye Lenin, which is an East-Berlin young man's life story before and after the collapse of the Wall.
Chor Yuen's martial
arts world
In the special screening section Hong Kong director Chor Yuen's (
Chang Cheh (
But another martial arts school filmmaker, Chor Yuen is less well-known. A series of screenings intends to reintroduce the visually splendid and exotic martial arts world of Chor Yuen and his adaptations of Ku Lung's (
Different from the Shaolin style movies of Chang Cheh, Chor Yuen's martial arts stories are a combination of romanticism and suspense. Spies, betrayal, conspiracy schemes and constant romances happen to the lead character.
In a way, Chor Yuen's movie world can be seen as the equivalent of the 007 movies in the West. The movies also made a star of Di Lung (
2004 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival
When: Started yesterday, to Dec. 5
Where: Warner Village Cinema, Xinyi District, 18 Songshou Rd., Taipei (
Tickets: NT$220, (NT$190 for students), available at ERA ticketing outlets
Bad Luck:Sold-out Films (up to Nov 24)
Dogora (Opening film), Clean (Closing film), Cafe Lumiere,Coffee and Cigarettes,10 on Ten, Anything Else, Exiles, Whisky, Ma Mere, Nine Songs, The Motorcycle Diaries, Squint Your Eyes, Satan's Tango, World Apartment Horror, April Story, All About Lily Chou-chou, Hana and Alice, Head-On, Naked, Distant Light, Digital Shorts Collection (B).
For a full list of films in both Chinese and English, visit the festival Web site: http://www.goldenhorse.org.tw.
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