Rock On! (實習大明星)
Sentimentality, catchy tunes and local color come together in this Taiwanese musical coming-of-age flick starring young wannabe actors and a has-been entertainer down on his luck. Directed by Hong Kong’s Lawrence Ah Mon (劉國昌) and featuring aging celebrity Franky Gao (高凌風), as well as a gaggle of TV soap opera idols such as Shao Hsin (邵昕) and Hsiang Yu-jie (向語潔), the production’s message is that hope is all you need to achieve your dreams.
Ocean Heaven (海洋天堂)
Serious, sincere and sentimental, this Jet Li (李連杰) nonaction debut does great credit to the star’s acting abilities, but is too earnest for its own good. Li plays a terminally ill single parent of an autistic son, but if you can stand the mawkish premise, then in other respects the film is well made.
The portrayal of Li’s character, who discovers he has liver cancer, and the exploration of the huge difficulties faced by those who fall through the gaps of society’s welfare system, is thoughtful and affecting. The film boasts a distinguished production crew, which includes cinematographer Christopher Doyle and Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi (Howl’s Moving Castle and Ponyo).
Penguins in the Sky — Asahiyama Zoo
A fictional film set against the background of the once troubled Asahiyama Zoo in Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost zoo. In Penguins in the Sky, the zoo faces financial problems born of its isolated location and competition from more commercially savvy theme parks. Enter Yoshida (Yasuhi Nakamura), a young zookeeper who is dedicated to saving the zoo from closure. New forms of interactive exhibits are developed, which led to a massive increase in visitor numbers. The film features many of the zoo’s actual attractions, including the Polar Bear Aquatic Park and the “Walk-Through” Penguin Aquarium. The film is based on a novel by Masao Kosuge, a chief manager at the zoo who was instrumental in pushing through many of these new developments. On the brink of closure in the early 1990s, Asahiyama Zoo is now one of the country’s most visited zoos.
The Switch
Yet another zany romantic comedy starring Jennifer Aniston, The Switch is likely to polarize audiences between those easily able to suspend disbelief and those who find the premise utterly ridiculous and unworthy. The latter are likely to be the losers, as Aniston and Jason Bateman, who serves as narrator and male lead, put in strong performances, and the child star of the film, Thomas Robinson, elevates the cliched role of precocious kid caught in the middle of adult relationship muddles to something worth watching. The movie is based on a short story by Pulitzer-winning writer Jeffrey Eugenides (The Virgin Suicides), but the rom-com treatment has ensured that the original is all but unrecognizable.
The Last Exorcism
A low-budget horror film that goes the handheld route in the manner of The Blair Witch Project. This device, apart from being annoying, has been overused in the past few years. The story is that of an itinerant preacher in the American south who has an attack of conscience and decides to give a documentary team an inside look at his exorcisms. Suffice to say, both he and the team end up getting much more than they bargained for. Some solid acting by relative unknowns, good use of atmosphere and a “shock” ending that has been almost universally derided as an absolute stinker.
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