Frozen River
This outstanding debut film by director Courtney Hunt has finally made it to these shores (originally released in 2008) and should be seen by anyone who enjoys high-quality independent filmmaking. Hunt’s movie follows the story of a small-time human trafficking operation that smuggles people from Canada to upstate New York, yet studiously rejects the many opportunities to become a mainstream thriller or a sentimental drama, focusing instead on an uneasy relationship between two mothers driven by emotional and economic need. For them to survive, they must cross an uneasy divide much more dangerous than the frozen river of the title. Fantastic performances by actress Melissa Leo and Misty Upham.
Ex (前度)
The second feature film helmed by Heiward Mak (麥曦茵) mixes up mainstream TV-idol casting and melodramatic romantic setups with a distinctly art house sensibility and deliberately fragmented story line. Ex was selected as the closing film for the 34th Hong Kong International Film Festival and boasts the presence of singers Gillian Chung (鍾欣桐) and William Chan (陳偉霆). A clunky and hugely implausible plot and self-consciously kinetic camerawork aspire to avant-garde credentials, but to little effect.
Sister Smile (Soeur Sourire)
A musical biopic of the Belgian nun Jeanine Deckers, who rose to fame as the singing nun following her 1963 hit song Dominique. The title role is played by Cecile de France, who puts in a stunning performance in what is otherwise an ordinary musical biopic full of the cliches of sudden success, fame and self-destruction. The sexual revolution of the 1960s, which provides the background to Deckers’ career, is given little attention, with the film focusing resolutely on the emotional conflict between Deckers’ religion and her desire to be free.
Dear Doctor
This Japanese-language film written and directed by Miwa Mishikawa and staring TV personality Tsurube Shofukutei was nominated by film magazine Kinema Junpo as one of the best Japanese films of last year. It is the story of a con artist posing as a country doctor who finds himself torn between carrying on deceiving his gullible rustic patients or doing the right thing by a woman dying of a fatal illness. Dear Doctor has won plaudits for its subtle characterization, strong acting and the depth with which it explores truth and its unintended consequences.
Musashi: The Dream of the Last Samurai
An animated biography of the famous Japanese swordsman Miyamato Musashi, who authored the The Book of Five Rings and was a respected commentator on the virtues of Bushido. Written by Mamoru Oshii, the film, which examines the roots of Musashi’s philosophy, is short on story and long on theory. A motley mix of animation styles and excessive digressions on minor aspects of the way of the warrior are likely to make this film hard going for all but the most ardent fans of Japanese military history.
Toy Story 3
The saga continues with Andy all grown up and the toys of his childhood in danger of finding their way into the landfill. All the old characters are back, and there are also a few new additions. In the hands of director Lee Unkrich, the film maintains a certain freshness and also explores some slightly darker issues. While 3D is being used to market the film, Hollywood Reporter suggests that there is nothing cheap or showy about the effects, and that the new technology is effectively used to heighten and enrich the animation.
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
It’s hard to know where to begin with Mark Tovell’s Taiwan: Roads Above the Clouds. Having published a travelogue myself, as well as having contributed to several guidebooks, at first glance Tovell’s book appears to inhabit a middle ground — the kind of hard-to-sell nowheresville publishers detest. Leaf through the pages and you’ll find them suffuse with the purple prose best associated with travel literature: “When the sun is low on a warm, clear morning, and with the heat already rising, we stand at the riverside bike path leading south from Sanxia’s old cobble streets.” Hardly the stuff of your
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