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Something for everyone at the cinema

PHOTO COURTESY OF PANDASIA ENTERTAINMENT

To many of us the 921 earthquake is a fading memory that is occasionally refreshed by newspapers or TV.

But to some people, it stands for the ongoing struggle to rebuild their lives ruined by the catastrophe. For the past six years, director Chen Liang-feng (陳亮丰) and a small crew from Full Shot Foundation (全景傳播基金會) stayed with an Atayal (泰雅) tribal village of 45 households at the bottom of Big Snow Mountain in Taichung County.

The result is a two-hour-long documentary that takes the audience on an enlightening journey into a god-forsaken land.

The latest work in Full Shot's 921 Earthquake series, Three Fork Village faithfully documents the poverty and hardship of the villages who can only find jobs as seasonal laborers in neighboring orchards and construction sites.

The earthquake hit the areas hard and took away with it most of the jobs. Houses collapsed, and family members were killed in the catastrophe. The government told the survivors they could no longer return to their homes and had to move to a modern community that would be built by the government.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SWALLOWS WINGS

Temporary housing units came six months after the earthquake. The villagers waited but the relocation project seemed to be a dream that would never be realized.

In the film, we can see the fierce conflicts between the young and old generations regarding the future of the tribe, their frustrations and despairs when being informed that they had to pay for the new houses themselves, and the bureaucratic incompetence.

But we are also deeply touched by the individuals who never give up hope and face the future with a determination to keep the tribe alive.

After three screenings in Taipei this weekend, Three Fork Village will go on tour to Hsinchu (新竹), Tainan (台南), Taichung (台中), Kaohsiung (高雄), Taitung (台東) and Hualian (花蓮). For those of you who want to learn more about the ongoing struggles for survival after the earthquake, call (02) 2767 1019, or go to http://www.wretch.cc/blog/sky5 for more information.

And for those of you who would prefer pure entertainment and action, Tom Yum Goong (拳霸2) is the answer. As a sequel to last year's box-office success Ong Bak (拳霸), the film is a mega-budget blockbus-ter that aims to impress a global audience with the second collaboration between Thai director Prachya Pinkaew and the emerging international martial art star Tony Jaa.

As in any action movie, the plot is simple: a young man named Kham, played by Jaa, ventures into a foreign land, Australia, to rescue two elephants stolen by an international mafia syndicate.

Continuing the tradition of Thai boxing in Ong Bak, the 26-year-old action star masterfully demonstrates the beauty of Muay Koshasan or "elephant boxing," which is an ancient martial art focusing on grabbing, hurling and pressing.

Without special effects and the help of wires and doubles, the movie successfully creates a visually stylish and beautifully performed world of kung-fu.

The films A Cow and the Boy (我的小牛與總統) and Look At Me (看看我，聽聽我) will spice the week up if you fancy a bit of French. A Cow and the Boy tells the story of a friendship between an eight-year-old boy named Lucas and a Galloways cow called Fator.

Both of them live a peaceful and happy life in the farm until Fator is about to be slaughtered because of the spread of Mad Cow disease.

The father and son then embark an adventure to Paris to ask the president to grand amnesty to their cows. It's a film about a father-son relationship, the absence of a mother, the relationship between nature and humankind and the nostalgia of childhood's innocence.

Winning the best screenplay award at Cannes last year, Look At Me is another eye-catching team work by the award-winning couple, director/actress Agnes Jaoui and actor/screenwriter Jean-Pierre Bacri.

The storyline evolves from the frustrating relationship between 20-year-old Lolita and her famous but self-centered writer dad Etienne, played by Bacri. As a young woman who doesn't look like the girls in magazines, Lolita is ignored by family and friends all her life and strives for recognition through her talent for singing.

Film Notes:

Tom Yum Goong
Directed by: Prachya Pinkaew
Screening Venue: on general release
Language: In Thai with Chinese subtitles
Taiwan Release: Today

Three Fork Village (三叉坑)
Directed by: Chen Liang-feng (陳亮丰)
Screening Venue: Chinese Culture University Extension Center (文化大學推廣部), 231, Jianguo S Rd, Sec 2, Taipei (台北市建國南路二段231號).
Language: in Mandarin
Taiwan Release: Tomorrow

A Cow and the Boy
Directed by: Philippe Muyl
Screening Venue: on general release
Language: In French with Chinese subtitles
Taiwan Release: Today

Look At Me
Directed by: Agnes Jaoui
Screening Venue: Majestic Cinema (真善美戲院) and Changchun Cinema (長春戲院)
Language: In French with Chinese subtitles
Taiwan Release: Today

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