 | The Witnesses
AIDS is the subject of this French production. The story takes us back to just before it all began, revisiting the confusion of a number of friends and family in the mid- 1980s as an unknown disease impacts on their sexually eclectic lives. The emphasis here is humanism and hope in the face of cruel mortality, and critics have painted this as superior to the Tom Hanks film Philadelphia - though to be fair, the stories and sociopolitical contexts are completely different. It features a powerhouse cast (Michel Blanc, Emmanuelle Beart, Julie Depardieu) and an eye for the upbeat. French title: Les Temoins. |
 | Scandalous Those who were put off movie musicals for life by the porn-laced The Wayward Cloud and its quintessential Taiwanese despair might find this dance-filled Spanish flick to be just the right tonic. The Web site for Manchester's Cornerhouse arts center says Scandalous "brings together three generations of a sevillana family, a hapless detective, counter-cultural Okupa [squatter] communities and a Buddhist retreat," while the trailers are exuberant and a little surreal. The original title translates as "Why do they rub their little feet together?" See the film to find out why, and be prepared to make a spectacle of yourself when you dance in the aisles. |
 | Tekkonkinkreet A Japanese animated film from last year, and apparently the first to be directed by a foreigner - American Michael Arias, to be exact, a video game and film-related software whiz and the producer of The Animatrix - this more adult-themed work has been praised not just for its superbly rendered and dynamic visuals but also for deeper themes of belonging, community and self-belief. Two street children with strange powers - that include soaring through the air - team up with a sympathetic yakuza boss to defeat evil property speculators who want to destroy the older part of their city. Showing at the Spring Cinema Galaxy in Ximending. |
 | Beauty and the Seven Beasts (七擒七縱七色狼) You have to hand it to Wong Jing (王晶). The prolific and populist producer-director-actor survived not only the collapse of the Hong Kong film industry, but also the far more painful Golden Horse Awards ceremony in Taipei two weeks ago (he was the only one on the night to elicit bellylaughs from the audience). The Wong-produced Beauty is his latest foray into the kind of ramshackle, anachronistic comedy that Hong Kong used to be famous for. It's set in the 1970s and features seven men in loud shirts getting into a flap over a sexy youngster played by newcomer Natalie Meng Yao (孟瑤). Screening at the Baixue theater in Ximending, but not for long. |
Behind a car repair business on a nondescript Thai street are the cherished pets of a rising TikTok animal influencer: two lions and a 200-kilogram lion-tiger hybrid called “Big George.” Lion ownership is legal in Thailand, and Tharnuwarht Plengkemratch is an enthusiastic advocate, posting updates on his feline companions to nearly three million followers. “They’re playful and affectionate, just like dogs or cats,” he said from inside their cage complex at his home in the northern city of Chiang Mai. Thailand’s captive lion population has exploded in recent years, with nearly 500 registered in zoos, breeding farms, petting cafes and homes. Experts warn the
No one saw it coming. Everyone — including the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) — expected at least some of the recall campaigns against 24 of its lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) to succeed. Underground gamblers reportedly expected between five and eight lawmakers to lose their jobs. All of this analysis made sense, but contained a fatal flaw. The record of the recall campaigns, the collapse of the KMT-led recalls, and polling data all pointed to enthusiastic high turnout in support of the recall campaigns, and that those against the recalls were unenthusiastic and far less likely to vote. That
The unexpected collapse of the recall campaigns is being viewed through many lenses, most of them skewed and self-absorbed. The international media unsurprisingly focuses on what they perceive as the message that Taiwanese voters were sending in the failure of the mass recall, especially to China, the US and to friendly Western nations. This made some sense prior to early last month. One of the main arguments used by recall campaigners for recalling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers was that they were too pro-China, and by extension not to be trusted with defending the nation. Also by extension, that argument could be
The centuries-old fiery Chinese spirit baijiu (白酒), long associated with business dinners, is being reshaped to appeal to younger generations as its makers adapt to changing times. Mostly distilled from sorghum, the clear but pungent liquor contains as much as 60 percent alcohol. It’s the usual choice for toasts of gan bei (乾杯), the Chinese expression for bottoms up, and raucous drinking games. “If you like to drink spirits and you’ve never had baijiu, it’s kind of like eating noodles but you’ve never had spaghetti,” said Jim Boyce, a Canadian writer and wine expert who founded World Baijiu Day a decade
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