The Romance of Astrea and Celadon
This is apparently the final film of 87-year-old French New Wave icon Eric Rohmer, and is being shown here straight after its European release. Based on a 17th-century novelist's idyllic tale of rural people and customs some 1,000 years earlier, Rohmer's stagey adaptation offers rustic romance with a touch of fantasy and even cross-dressing. Audiences unfamiliar with Rohmer's uncompromising filmmaking might find this one very odd.
Naraka 19
The title for this Hong Kong horror confection translates into The 19th Level of Hell. The Buddhist concept of hell has 18 levels, each with different punishment. In this case, however, some impressionable young Hong Kong women are about to stumble on an extra level via a demonic game. Based on an Internet novella by Cai Jun (蔡駿), Carol Lai Miu-suet's (黎妙雪) film did not make waves at home, but is notable for weaving text messaging and other marketable Internet-era diversions into its narrative.
Apartment 1303
Another movie with hellish stuff involving numbered titles and young women in supernatural peril, this time from Japan. A young woman suspects the death of her sister had more to it than high-density urban living, and moves into the apartment of the title. What follows is a retread of successful Japanese horror flicks in recent years - not to mention any number of Western shockers - and few reviewers have had anything good to say about it. Movie stills point to a low budget and no innovation.
April 28 to May 4 During the Japanese colonial era, a city’s “first” high school typically served Japanese students, while Taiwanese attended the “second” high school. Only in Taichung was this reversed. That’s because when Taichung First High School opened its doors on May 1, 1915 to serve Taiwanese students who were previously barred from secondary education, it was the only high school in town. Former principal Hideo Azukisawa threatened to quit when the government in 1922 attempted to transfer the “first” designation to a new local high school for Japanese students, leading to this unusual situation. Prior to the Taichung First
The Ministry of Education last month proposed a nationwide ban on mobile devices in schools, aiming to curb concerns over student phone addiction. Under the revised regulation, which will take effect in August, teachers and schools will be required to collect mobile devices — including phones, laptops and wearables devices — for safekeeping during school hours, unless they are being used for educational purposes. For Chang Fong-ching (張鳳琴), the ban will have a positive impact. “It’s a good move,” says the professor in the department of
On April 17, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) launched a bold campaign to revive and revitalize the KMT base by calling for an impromptu rally at the Taipei prosecutor’s offices to protest recent arrests of KMT recall campaigners over allegations of forgery and fraud involving signatures of dead voters. The protest had no time to apply for permits and was illegal, but that played into the sense of opposition grievance at alleged weaponization of the judiciary by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to “annihilate” the opposition parties. Blamed for faltering recall campaigns and faced with a KMT chair
Article 2 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China (中華民國憲法增修條文) stipulates that upon a vote of no confidence in the premier, the president can dissolve the legislature within 10 days. If the legislature is dissolved, a new legislative election must be held within 60 days, and the legislators’ terms will then be reckoned from that election. Two weeks ago Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) proposed that the legislature hold a vote of no confidence in the premier and dare the president to dissolve the legislature. The legislature is currently controlled
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