Shutter In this American remake of a Thai horror opus directed by a Japanese, a young American couple in Japan seem to run down a woman with their car, resulting in something travel insurance doesn’t cover: a peeved poltergeist delivering omens and wreaking vengeance via the photographs and cameras of the photographer husband. From the director of Infection, which was much better — and more original — by most accounts. Fangoria magazine called this retread “the precise moment when the Asian-horror-remake trend ... officially disappeared up its own asshole.” | |
Late Bloomers A scandalized reaction awaits when Martha, a sprightly old lady, finally fulfills her dream of opening a store selling the latest lines of lingerie. The problem is that she lives in a conservative part of Switzerland and her son is the local priest, which doesn’t help matters. This is a comedy from 2006 that milks the potential outrageousness of elderly people who refuse to fit stereotypes. Originally meant for TV, Late Bloomers eventually served as Switzerland’s nomination for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars. | |
Cherry Blossoms Here’s a more serious treatment of old age. After his wife dies, an elderly German man continues their planned trip to Japan to visit his son and discovers a new world while making the acquaintance of a young practitioner of Butoh dancing. Mount Fuji figures prominently in this film for unusual symbolic and narrative reasons. From veteran German writer-director Doris Dorrie, probably best known for her comedy Men… from 1985. | |
Bread Superman 2008 This is the 19th and latest in Japan’s Anpanman series of animated features for kids featuring a cheerful hero with a bun for a head filled with bean paste. In this outing, Anpanman rescues a timid but talented young creature named Purun in a forest and escorts her home, only to find that his regular foe from Germ World is menacing the whole town. Original title: Go! Anpanman: Purun of Bubbles, this was made last year, notwithstanding the title. As usual, a Bread Superman short will screen with the feature. It’s called Go! Anpanman: Horaman and Hora-Horako. | |
Necromancer Belatedly attempting to cash in on decent box office for the similarly themed but far more graphic Art of the Devil 3, a rival Taiwanese distributor has given us this Thai fantasy thriller from 2005 featuring a rogue cop who dabbles in black magic, only to be caught and jailed. Upon his escape, he is pursued by a younger policeman who must match his skills in necromancy to survive. The film opened last week at the Caesar grindhouse in Ximending and the Scholar theater complex, but won’t likely be around for too long, no matter what hex they put on the audience. |
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
This year’s Michelin Gourmand Bib sported 16 new entries in the 126-strong Taiwan directory. The fight for the best braised pork rice and the crispiest scallion pancake painstakingly continued, but what stood out in the lineup this year? Pang Taqueria (胖塔可利亞); Taiwan’s first Michelin-recommended Mexican restaurant. Chef Charles Chen (陳治宇) is a self-confessed Americophile, earning his chef whites at a fine-dining Latin-American fusion restaurant. But what makes this Xinyi (信義) spot stand head and shoulders above Taipei’s existing Mexican offerings? The authenticity. The produce. The care. AUTHENTIC EATS In my time on the island, I have caved too many times to
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not