OTHER RELEASES | |
Klimt John Malkovich plays yet another talented but troubled character, this time Austrian artist Gustav Klimt (1862-1918). Klimt is famous for nude portraits and a lifestyle that defied social norms; both feature in this loose biopic by hardworking director Raul Ruiz. Critics were largely dismissive of this effort, though more or less united in their praise for its visual beauty and honorable intentions. Alas, the version showing in Taiwan seems to be the shorter — and inferior — producer's cut that was released in the US. | |
The Valet Yet another Parisian romance to hit Taiwanese screens this winter, this comes from director Francis Veber, who wrote the original La Cage Aux Folles and a bunch of other films later remade in Hollywood. More comedy of errors than manners, the luckless parking attendant of the title is called on to pretend to be in a relationship with the mistress of a wealthy businessman after the latter two are caught in a reasonably compromising position. Fans of farce should enjoy this. French title: La Doublure | |
Kung Fu Fighter (功夫無敵) A number of actors from Kung Fu Hustle (功夫) turn up in a cheap knock-off that is also set in Shanghai in the 1930s. But Stephen Chow (周星馳) is not one of them. Vanness Wu (吳建豪) of F4/JVKV fame tries to locate his father as romance blossoms and triads close in. The trailer alone reveals a lack of Chow's visual flair and his ability to mingle the spectacular with the bizarre. Chow’s many fans instead need to wait until Jan. 31, which is when his new big-budget film CJ7 opens in Taiwan. | |
The House If you didn't get your fill of Thai horror flicks last year, the new year offers this entry. A reporter connects the dots in a series of grisly deaths at a haunted house, only to discover that she might be next in line. The House is getting more publicity than normal for a Thai horror opus, possibly because it performed quite well at the Thai box office. Decent production values may not appease those looking for a little more originality, however. Director Monthon Arayangkoon also made last year's The Victim, which did well here, and 2004's Garuda, about a monster in the Bangkok subway. |
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
Relations between Taiwan and the Czech Republic have flourished in recent years. However, not everyone is pleased about the growing friendship between the two countries. Last month, an incident involving a Chinese diplomat tailing the car of vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) in Prague, drew public attention to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) operations to undermine Taiwan overseas. The trip was not Hsiao’s first visit to the Central European country. It was meant to be low-key, a chance to meet with local academics and politicians, until her police escort noticed a car was tailing her through the Czech capital. The
April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the hardest by the 7.1-magnitude Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake on April 21, 1935. It remains the deadliest in Taiwan’s recorded history, claiming around 3,300 lives and injuring nearly 12,000. The disaster completely flattened roughly 18,000 houses and damaged countless more. The social activist and
Over the course of former President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 11-day trip to China that included a meeting with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping (習近平) a surprising number of people commented that the former president was now “irrelevant.” Upon reflection, it became apparent that these comments were coming from pro-Taiwan, pan-green supporters and they were expressing what they hoped was the case, rather than the reality. Ma’s ideology is so pro-China (read: deep blue) and controversial that many in his own Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hope he retires quickly, or at least refrains from speaking on some subjects. Regardless