Inception
The big release for this week is not to be taken lightly, for director Christopher Nolan has come up with a film that is not only stupendous to look at, but also puts audiences through their paces with a heist movie that essentially takes place in the subconscious. Memento, made in 2000, had Nolan playing around with amnesia. Inception takes as its premise a technology that allows a person to enter the subconscious world of others. Having made mega bucks with The Dark Knight (2008), Nolan seems to have been given a license to play complex mind games once again, though this time on a much bigger budget. The risk has paid off, for in addition to highly regarded performances by Leonardo DiCaprio, who has well and truly shed his pretty-boy image, and Ellen Page, who has come a long way since Juno, the word on the street is that you’ll want to walk right back into the theater after the credits roll to work out exactly what happened.
I Killed My Mother (J’ai Tue Ma Mere)
This angst-ridden gay coming-of-age drama by first-time director Xavier Dolan has picked up a slew of awards (including three at Cannes) for a remarkable debut feature. The script, also by Dolan, has a raw power that wowed critics, though Dolan’s visual style and his presence front of the camera in the leading role have received less uniform praise. The semi-autobiographical work focuses on the relationship between Hubert, a young man struggling with the realization of his sexuality, and an impatient and emotionally detached mother. The film wears its cinematic influences, which range from Jean-Luc Godard to Wong Kar-wai (王家衛), on its sleeve, but the moments of remarkable realism overcome the art-student posturing and make Dolan a young director worth watching.
Elite Squad (Tropa de Elite)
More gritty art house filmmaking can be found in Elite Squad, a Brazilian film about slum clearance by death squad that picked up the Golden Bear at Berlin in 2008. A film influenced by City of God, Elite Squad trawls the grimy depths of Rio de Janeiro’s slums and the dark world of the Special Police Operation Battalion (BOPE), a heavily armed, law-unto-itself unit that is charged with tidying up the city in the run-up to a visit by the pope. The relationship between two idealistic young recruits and a jaded and cynical captain form the center of the narrative, and brutal violence between the drug cartels and the police serve as the shocking backdrop. With a script co-written by BOPE officer Rodrigo Pimentel, the film contains some interesting thoughts about violence breeding violence buried within its shameless exploitation format.
Piecing Me Back Together (Mataaki)
Based on a best-selling novel by romance author Ren Kawahara, Piecing Me Back Together tells a story of young love interrupted by the terrible consequences of a traffic accident. Izumi and Junichi look forward to a happy life together. Izumi is killed and although Junichi survives, she discovers that she has lost all memory of the event. Lawyer Makiko comes along and decides that she will help rebuild that memory and launches an investigation into the accident. The film features established names in the leading roles, and for those in search of a good weepy melodrama, Piecing Me Back Together will probably fit the bill.
April 28 to May 4 During the Japanese colonial era, a city’s “first” high school typically served Japanese students, while Taiwanese attended the “second” high school. Only in Taichung was this reversed. That’s because when Taichung First High School opened its doors on May 1, 1915 to serve Taiwanese students who were previously barred from secondary education, it was the only high school in town. Former principal Hideo Azukisawa threatened to quit when the government in 1922 attempted to transfer the “first” designation to a new local high school for Japanese students, leading to this unusual situation. Prior to the Taichung First
The Ministry of Education last month proposed a nationwide ban on mobile devices in schools, aiming to curb concerns over student phone addiction. Under the revised regulation, which will take effect in August, teachers and schools will be required to collect mobile devices — including phones, laptops and wearables devices — for safekeeping during school hours, unless they are being used for educational purposes. For Chang Fong-ching (張鳳琴), the ban will have a positive impact. “It’s a good move,” says the professor in the department of
On April 17, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) launched a bold campaign to revive and revitalize the KMT base by calling for an impromptu rally at the Taipei prosecutor’s offices to protest recent arrests of KMT recall campaigners over allegations of forgery and fraud involving signatures of dead voters. The protest had no time to apply for permits and was illegal, but that played into the sense of opposition grievance at alleged weaponization of the judiciary by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to “annihilate” the opposition parties. Blamed for faltering recall campaigns and faced with a KMT chair
Article 2 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China (中華民國憲法增修條文) stipulates that upon a vote of no confidence in the premier, the president can dissolve the legislature within 10 days. If the legislature is dissolved, a new legislative election must be held within 60 days, and the legislators’ terms will then be reckoned from that election. Two weeks ago Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) proposed that the legislature hold a vote of no confidence in the premier and dare the president to dissolve the legislature. The legislature is currently controlled
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