In 2004, three blockbuster Chinese movies broke China's box office records: House of Flying Daggers (
The film is the best work so far of Feng Xiaogang (
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With A World Without Thieves Feng now makes it as an action-drama connoisseur: He adds a bit of suspense while maintaining his bold comedic style. Starring Hong Kong's Andy Lau (
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Wang Bo (Andy Lau) and Wang Li (Rene Liu) are a couple of thieves who have just stolen a BMW from a businessman. Taking a West-bound train, they encounter Roob (Wang Bao-qiang,
Roob has such a pure mind that he doesn't think anyone would steal his money, so even though the couple originally plans to take his earning, they become touched by his sense of purity and decide to protect him instead.
Meanwhile, the pickpocket group headed by Uncle Bill (Ge You,
A series of situations happen on the long train ride. Lau and Ge battle each other on top of the cars and in the mezzanine of the train, and all the pickpocketing takes place in the narrow aisles of the cars.
Feng cleverly presents these actions in choppy pictures and slow motions to let the audience riddle out what happens during a few seconds.
More impressive is the acting of all the actors, especially Ge in his role as a villain. The character Roob is also designed and performed well: he creates layers in the Wangs. Only the ending is a little far-fetched.
For a little more suspense, the CBS TV series Without A Trace is being aired on Public Television Service (
In the series, LaPaglia plays the chief of a special investigative squad in the FBI. They handle missing persons cases and try to recreate the original situation. The realistic investigative drama uses fast editing and special effects and totes a good cast, including Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Secrets and Lies) and Enrique Murciano (Black Hawk Down).
Increasing public awareness about missing persons is one aim of the series. At the end of each episode, the show's actors give a public-service announcement to help find the real-life missing person.
As for local movie production news, director Tsai Ming-liang (
Berlinale chairman Dieter Kosslik's commented on the film by saying, "I am stunned," as he was quoted last week on local media.
There is no doubt that he will be stunned again by watching the film, which deals with porn actors and scenes of explicit sex and suggestive dancing. Wayward Wind is also Tsai's first musical; actors Lee Kang-sheng (
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had caused a crisis in which China fired missiles into the sea and the US deployed carriers off the coast of Taiwan.” Yes, that’s right, mighty Chen caused that crisis all by himself. Neither the US nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exercised any agency. Nye then nostalgically invoked the comical specter
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Approaching her mid-30s, Xiong Yidan reckons that most of her friends are on to their second or even third babies. But Xiong has more than a dozen. There is Lucky, the street dog from Bangkok who jumped into a taxi with her and never left. There is Sophie and Ben, sibling geese, who honk from morning to night. Boop and Pan, both goats, are romantically involved. Dumpling the hedgehog enjoys a belly rub from time to time. The list goes on. Xiong nurtures her brood from her 8,000 square meter farm in Chiang Dao, a mountainous district in northern Thailand’s