Cyborg She
Picture a Japanese romantic comedy based on the premise of The Terminator and you have Cyborg She. An inventor sends a “female” robot back in time to save himself from being killed, only for the younger version of the man to fall in love with the oddly familiar ’borg. But can she love him in return? It’s a question put to the test when utter calamity strikes Tokyo. Warm humor, an accessible love story, a generous helping of reheated ideas from Western and Asian films alike and remarkable special effects brought plaudits for this film, which, in keeping with its eclectic frame of mind, is directed by a South Korean.
10 Promises to My Dog
This is also a Japanese love story between species, as it were, but of the canine variety. A girl adopts a stray dog on conditions laid down by her mother that she care for it properly. Eventually the mother dies, the girl grows up and leaves home to study, start relationships and everything else an adult does, placing pressure on her desire to care for the poor creature. It’s a simple premise but one rarely covered in cute animal movies: Where should responsibility for pets end? Older kids will love this film, though the message is just as much for adults. The 10 promises, by the way, are on the film’s Chinese-language Web site.
The Fox and the Child
Here’s another cute animal movie, this time from France, though the animal is decidedly not a pet. A fox captivates the heroine of the title (perhaps it’s because they have the same hair color) and they make friends after the girl gets lost one night. But friendship with a wild animal only goes so far, as she will find out all too soon. From the director of March of the Penguins, some critics were not taken with the mix of strange human behavior and sanitizing of Mother Nature, even in a children’s film.
Inside
Taiwanese advertising for this short but sharp French bloodbath warns that pregnant women will not be admitted. That’s a pity; it’s not often the heroine of any movie, horror or otherwise, is fat bellied and on the verge of a quick trip to the hospital. For this homebound heroine, recently bereaved in a car accident, the challenge is to stay out of the morgue as a fetus-coveting psycho (Beatrice Dalle, who famously played an erotic psycho in Betty Blue two decades ago) closes in with scissors poised. Apparently Taiwan’s censors resisted the temptation of using theirs.
Sorry If I Love You
In this Italian romantic comedy, viewers are invited to feel sorry for a bunch of male friends approaching middle age who are beginning to feel a little lost in the carnality department. One of the group has an accident with a motorscooter, whose owner is a sexy and adventurous 17-year-old. “Though almost adults,” says the promo, “[she and her friends] can still get up to the most incredible mischief.” A-ha! Color by numbers from this point; the only challenge is guessing whether there will be a moral sting in the tail. Heartthrob Raoul Bova (Alien vs Predator, Under the Tuscan Sun) stars as the smitten older man.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist