After his critically acclaimed feature debut Parking (停車, 2008), a darkly comic urban drama, director Chung Mong-hong (鍾孟宏) moves to the countryside in the exquisitely crafted The Fourth Portrait (第四張畫). The atmospheric film takes a poignant look at the issue of domestic violence through the tale of a boy haunted by loss, and is enhanced by handsome cinematography and a top-notch cast that includes Taiwanese thespians Leon Dai (戴立忍) and King Shih-chieh (金士傑), as well as Hao Lei (郝蕾) from China.
Set in rural Taiwan, the film opens with 10-year-old Xiang, effortlessly played by newcomer Bi Xiao-hai (畢曉海), watching his father pass away in a hospital room. Left alone in the world, the boy manages to survive by stealing boxed meals. An elderly school janitor (played by King) takes Xiang under his wing.
Later Xiang’s estranged mother (played by Hao), remarried to a morose night market vendor (played by Dai), comes to take the boy to his new family. A sense of foreboding envelopes the movie when the train that the mother and son take speeds into a black tunnel, leaving the two devoured by darkness.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ATOM CINEMA
Xiang’s new home is cold and unwelcoming; the stepfather is rancorous and distant. His mother, a Chinese immigrant, seems exhausted by her life as a hostess at a ramshackle karaoke bar. The boy struggles to make sense of his hostile environment by sketching portraits, and finds solace in a newly found friendship with a portly outcast, played by entertainer Lin Yu-chih (林郁智), better known as Na Dou (納豆). The friend makes Xiang an accomplice to his petty crimes.
The story takes a menacing turn when Xiang draws a portrait inspired by a dream about his older brother, who disappeared some years earlier. A series of macabre incidents ensues, gradually laying bare a skeleton in the family closet.
Cowritten, shot and directed by Chung, the film shares a similar episodic approach to storytelling with Parking. The child protagonist’s series of encounters with odd characters offers gripping moments, but prevents the viewer from emotionally investing in the narrative. The distancing effect that works well in Parking to convey urban estrangement is often frustrating when one tries to grasp the emotional poignancy and depth suggested in The Fourth Portrait.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ATOM CINEMA
Nonetheless, Chung is a wizard at evoking moods. The director never shuns away from his background in TV commercials, weaving rich colors, polished compositions and fluid camera work into a cinematography that gives Taiwan’s countryside a dreamlike, surreal quality.
The bleak, hostile environment is inhabited not only by petty criminals and drifters but ominous dark clouds rolling in from a distance and toxic yellow fumes belching out of factories in the background. Most striking of all is the stepfather’s giant fish tank, which exudes an eerie blue light that doesn’t seem to be of this world.
The solid cast lends considerable strength and grace to the work. Hao, almost unrecognizable from her lauded big-screen debut in Lou Ye’s (婁燁) Summer Palace (頤和園, 2006), presents a powerful character study of a Chinese immigrant who comes to Taiwan in search of a better life but ends up disillusioned. Dai is stunningly fierce as the stepfather. Rather than a character grounded in real life, however, Dai’s role feels more like an embodiment of wickedness that seems out of synch with the other rural inhabitants.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ATOM CINEMA
Since his award-winning documentary Doctor (醫生) in 2006, Chung has honed a distinct style and unique sensibility. Given more time to refine his skills in storytelling and character development, the seasoned commercial filmmaker will no doubt grow into much more than a cinematic stylist.
Late last month Philippines Foreign Affairs Secretary Theresa Lazaro told the Philippine Senate that the nation has sufficient funds to evacuate the nearly 170,000 Filipino residents in Taiwan, 84 percent of whom are migrant workers, in the event of war. Agencies have been exploring evacuation scenarios since early this year, she said. She also observed that since the Philippines has only limited ships, the government is consulting security agencies for alternatives. Filipinos are a distant third in overall migrant worker population. Indonesia has over 248,000 workers, followed by roughly 240,000 Vietnamese. It should be noted that there are another 170,000
Enter the Dragon 13 will bring Taiwan’s first taste of Dirty Boxing Sunday at Taipei Gymnasium, one highlight of a mixed-rules card blending new formats with traditional MMA. The undercard starts at 10:30am, with the main card beginning at 4pm. Tickets are NT$1,200. Dirty Boxing is a US-born ruleset popularized by fighters Mike Perry and Jon Jones as an alternative to boxing. The format has gained traction overseas, with its inaugural championship streamed free to millions on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. Taiwan’s version allows punches and elbows with clinch striking, but bans kicks, knees and takedowns. The rules are stricter than the
Next week, candidates will officially register to run for chair of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). By the end of Friday, we will know who has registered for the Oct. 18 election. The number of declared candidates has been fluctuating daily. Some candidates registering may be disqualified, so the final list may be in flux for weeks. The list of likely candidates ranges from deep blue to deeper blue to deepest blue, bordering on red (pro-Chinese Communist Party, CCP). Unless current Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) can be convinced to run for re-election, the party looks likely to shift towards more hardline
“Far from being a rock or island … it turns out that the best metaphor to describe the human body is ‘sponge.’ We’re permeable,” write Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie in their book Slow Death By Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things. While the permeability of our cells is key to being alive, it also means we absorb more potentially harmful substances than we realize. Studies have found a number of chemical residues in human breast milk, urine and water systems. Many of them are endocrine disruptors, which can interfere with the body’s natural hormones. “They can mimic, block
RSS