9
Sock puppets. The cineplex. These two seemingly incompatible elements are brought together in 9, a post-apocalyptic survival story — enough already with the end of the world — featuring a bunch of cute rag dolls who inhabit a world of fierce feline machines. Directed by Shane Acker, a protege of Tim Burton, 9 presents the kind of richly fantastic world that is not a million miles from his mentor’s own Alice in Wonderland, which is currently playing at the cineplex. Highly praised as one of the more original productions in the increasingly overcrowded animation sphere, and featuring some top voiceover talent including Elijah Wood and Christopher Plummer, it nevertheless bows to the demands of conventional action flicks and the CGI magic-makers, somewhat diminishing its indie street cred.
The Lovely Bones
This week’s other major release is Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones, in which the Lord of the Rings director melds supernatural fantasy, murder mystery and family drama into a far from seamless tale taken from Alice Sebold’s best-selling 2002 novel of the same name. The presence of Saoirse Ronan, who was so brilliant in Atonement (2007), is submerged beneath a blanket of special effects that attempts to create a cinematic image of heaven — always a dangerous thing to do. She plays Susan Salmon, a young girl who is murdered and watches as her parents and the police search for her killer. As the search for the murderer goes nowhere, the Salmon family begins to disintegrate, under Susan’s sorrowful gaze. This delicate drama does not survive Jackson’s go-for-broke approach to spectacle despite its star-studded cast, which includes Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg, Susan Sarandon and Stanley Tucci.
A Good Husband (Kondo wa Aisaika)
Yet another literary adaptation, this is a superior Japanese tearjerker staring Etsushi Toyokawa as Shunsuke Kitami, a formerly successful photographer who has lost his mojo, and Hiroko Yakushimaru, his long-suffering wife Sakura. Wife wants children; husband finds consolation for failing career in the arms of other women. In the tradition of Japanese soap opera wives, Sakura remains dedicated to philandering husband. Finally, something snaps, and the love she maintained for Shunsuke begins to fade. When Etsushi realizes what he has lost, it may be too late to win his wife back. Cue tissues.
Wedding Fever in Campobello (Maria, Ihm Schmeckt’s Nicht!)
Racial stereotypes jump out of the closet for this German comedy in the manner of Meet the Parents. Jan is planning on marrying girlfriend Sara, whose father, Antonio, is Italian. Worse yet, the wedding will take place in an Italian town with her father’s numerous family members in attendance. Antonio is possessive. Jan suffers from a host of allergies. The Italians find Jan stuffy and unenthusiastic about the festivities. The hotel they are staying in provides every discomfort. Though aimed squarely at a German audience, Wedding Fever does boast a solid cast that should give this well-worn slapstick a bit of gloss.
The Shock Labyrinth 3D (Senritsu Meikyu 3D)
Although it has the cachet of helmer Takashi Shimizu, who brought The Grudge movies into the world, Shock Labyrinth 3D looks too much like a gimmick to appeal to hard-core horror fans. The film’s central setting is inspired by the Labyrinth of Horrors attraction at Fuji-Q High Land amusement park, a fact that does not inspire confidence. The movie follows a group of teenagers, who take a friend to an old hospital, only to discover that it’ actually one big labyrinth of horrors. Lots of killing and ghostly goings on. Internet comments suggest that the main shock is how very little is achieved with 3D technology.
A few weeks ago I found myself at a Family Mart talking with the morning shift worker there, who has become my coffee guy. Both of us were in a funk over the “unseasonable” warm weather, a state of mind known as “solastalgia” — distress produced by environmental change. In fact, the weather was not that out of the ordinary in boiling Central Taiwan, and likely cooler than the temperatures we will experience in the near-future. According to the Taiwan Adaptation Platform, between 1957 and 2006, summer lengthened by 27.8 days, while winter shrunk by 29.7 days. Winter is not
Taiwan’s post-World War II architecture, “practical, cheap and temporary,” not to mention “rather forgettable.” This was a characterization recently given by Taiwan-based historian John Ross on his Formosa Files podcast. Yet the 1960s and 1970s were, in fact, the period of Taiwan’s foundational building boom, which, to a great extent, defined the look of Taiwan’s cities, determining the way denizens live today. During this period, functionalist concrete blocks and Chinese nostalgia gave way to new interpretations of modernism, large planned communities and high-rise skyscrapers. It is currently the subject of a new exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Modern
March 25 to March 31 A 56-year-old Wu Li Yu-ke (吳李玉哥) was straightening out her artist son’s piles of drawings when she inadvertently flipped one over, revealing the blank backside of the paper. Absent-mindedly, she picked up a pencil and recalled how she used to sketch embroidery designs for her clothing business. Without clients and budget or labor constraints to worry about, Wu Li drew freely whatever image came to her mind. With much more free time now that her son had found a job, she found herself missing her home village in China, where she
In recent years, Slovakia has been seen as a highly democratic and Western-oriented Central European country. This image was reinforced by the election of the country’s first female president in 2019, efforts to provide extensive assistance to Ukraine and the strengthening of relations with Taiwan, all of which strengthened Slovakia’s position within the European Union. However, the latest developments in the country suggest that the situation is changing rapidly. As such, the presidential elections to be held on March 23 will be an indicator of whether Slovakia remains in the Western sphere of influence or moves eastward, notably towards Russia and