Dancing Without You (背著你跳舞)
Taiwanese director Lee Yun-chan’s (李芸嬋) third feature, following 2007’s My DNA Says I Love You (基因決定我愛你). One of a small group of rising female Taiwanese directors, Lee is not afraid to deal in the absurd, and with Dancing Without You she takes her cue from fairy tales. Singer Vivian Hsu (徐若瑄) stars as a suicidal ballerina who is mistaken for an alien by an astronomer played by Tony Yang (楊祐寧). A romance ensues, but the dancer’s longing to perform Swan Lake could ruin hopes for a beautiful friendship.
Love in a Puff (志明與春嬌)
A romance from Hong Kong built around the restrictions on smoking that came into effect in early 2007. Directed by Pang Ho-cheung (彭浩翔), the film has garnered strong reviews despite its flimsy premise. Starring emerging talents Miriam Yeung (楊千嬅) and Shawn Yeh (余文樂), the film follows two avid smokers who meet at a gathering place for office-bound smokers. A friendship transforms into a tentative romance that has the possibility of something more. Driven by dialogue and character, this exploration of accidental urban relationships is a minor masterpiece of filmmaking that has drawn comparisons with the work of Eric Rohmer.
HorrorFever 2: Halloween 2010 Horror Film Festival(萬聖熱:2010 恐怖驚選影展II)
Local film distributors CatchPlay found they were onto such a good thing with their first HorrorFever festival in August that they put together a second round in time for Halloween. This new feast of horror includes mostly US, Japanese and South Korean films, with a couple of European features thrown into the mix. Detailed information about the 14 films and their screening times can be found at www.catchplay.com. Screenings run through Nov. 11 at the Shin Kong Cineplex (台北新光影城) on 36 Xining S Rd, Taipei City (台北市西寧南路36號). Individual tickets cost NT$175 when purchased through ibon kiosks at 7-Elevens or NT$190 directly from the venue. Discounted books of five tickets are also available.
Stone
With Robert De Niro, Edward Norton and Milla Jovovich headlining, Stone is the standout crowd-pleaser in a crowded week. Norton plays a con dangling his wife (Jovovich) in front of his button-down parole officer (De Niro) in an effort to get out of prison. Stone plays with the conventions of film noir in a sophisticated manner that is likely to delight film buffs, while also providing plenty of engaging drama and a spattering of blood to keep things exciting for those who just want to be entertained.
Parade
An ensemble drama by director Isao Yukisada, Parade looks into the abyss of urban life through the relationship of four young people sharing a flat in Tokyo. From very different backgrounds, they get to know each other gradually, but the extent of their mutual knowledge is called into question when an interloper insinuates himself into their group and strange events begin to take place — a series of murders and strange people hanging around the apartment next door. Parade was nominated in the Best Film category of the Asian Film Awards and picked up the Fipresci Prize at Berlin earlier this year.
Dolan’s Cadillac
Christian Slater slums it in an adaptation from a Stephen King novel that has “straight to DVD” written all over it. Director Jeff Beesley, who has built his reputation in TV, seems to have done a workmanlike job with this atmospheric thriller. Slater’s character takes revenge for his wife’s death after she is murdered by a mobster who she inadvertently witnesses presiding over a mob execution.
Saw 3D
The best thing that can be said about Saw 3D is that it promises to be “The Final Chapter.” Like many similar horror franchises, Saw is being bled to death by the studios, who are able to offer little more than bigger sets and technical upgrades such as 3D in each succeeding installment. Fans may be interested in rounding off their Saw experience, but the film, which is based around characters from previous installments (those who survived) seeking mutual support through group therapy, offers little for those with no vested interest in the franchise.
I Saw the Devil (Akmareul boattda)
Brutal exploitation picture by South Korean director Kim Ji-woon, who gave us the highly regarded The Good, the Bad and the Weird (2008). I Saw the Devil is a revenge drama in which cop Kim So-hyun decides that death is too good for the murderer of his fiancée. He brutalizes the killer again and again in bloody torture sequences that include everything from rocks to plastic bags to fire extinguishers and fishhooks. Not for the faint of heart. Will the killer manage to turn the tables? The mayhem runs for nearly two and a half hours.
See You in September
Tightly wound Manhattanites find love when abandoned by their therapists. Cliches abound in this film by TV actress Tamara Tunie, who has considerable experience including 24, As the World Turns and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. See You in September is her first feature film, and it looks like she has raided the old tropes, drawing from all the soaps she has ever worked in. There are plenty of well-dressed and attractive people inhabiting this movie, but that’s the extent of its appeal.
Confessions (Kokuhaku)
More revenge mayhem in Tetsuya Nakashima’s film about a teacher taking vengeance on two of her students who killed her four-year-old daughter. The kids, protected as juveniles under Japan’s legal code, discover that their shy and withdrawn teacher, played by Takako Matsu, is infinitely worse than anything even the toughest judge might dish out. Although it deals with dark and depressing subject matter, the quality acting, assured direction and firm grasp of moral ambiguity make this much more than B-movie exploitation fare.
Kido Senshi Gundam (Gundam Unicorn) Episodes 1 and 2
The first two 50-minute “original video animation” episodes in a six-part series dealing with yet another dimension of the Gundam mobile suits multiverse. Produced for release on Japan’s PlayStation Network. Adapted from the Gundam Ace novel series and strictly for fans of anime and associated action figures.
The Last Summer of La Boyita (El ultimo verano de la Boyita)
Coming of age/sexual awakening drama from Argentine director Julia Solomonoff that deals sensitively yet confidently with childhood friendship, loss of innocence and the simultaneous joy and despair of being young. Jorgelina (Guadalupe Alonso) goes off with her father into the Pampas for a summer holiday and meets Mario (Nicolas Treise). At first indifferent to the young tourist, a relationship develops through the hot summer. Clothes come off and secrets come out. Excellent performances by the two young leads.
Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike
A prequel to the role-playing game Tales of Vesperia, which is the 10th release in the successful Tales series of console games begun by Namco Bandai Games in 1995. This most recent release, Tales of Vesperia, was created for XBox 360 in 2008. The science fiction/fantasy film, with its highly complex multi-strand story, is aimed squarely at gamers.
Rassvet/Zakat.
Dalai Lama 14
The day-in-the-life format taken to a documentary extreme. Russian director Vitali Mansky follows the Dalai Lama from 3am when he rises to sunset, when he retires. The film shows the Tibetan spiritual leader’s moments of private prayer and many public duties, such as the blessing of pilgrims. The Dalai Lama has been the subject of close cinematic scrutiny in recent years; Rassvet/Zakat. Dalai Lama 14 may prove to be the most intimate to date.
The 2010 Golden Horse Film Festival (2010台北金馬影展)
This year’s Golden Horse is set to show more than 260 feature, documentary, short and animation films from around the world starting Nov. 3. The lineup includes the festival’s popular LGBT and Rock ‘n’ Roll program as well as a section featuring digitally restored masterpieces including Stanley Kubrick’s The Shinin (1980) and Luis Bunuel’s Tristana (1970) starring Catherine Deneuve.
This year’s directors in focus are Japanese animation master Satoshi Kon, who passed away in August, Apichatpong Weerasethakul of Thailand and France’s Eric Rohmer.
The festival will run through Nov. 26 at Shin Kong Cineplex (新光影城), 36 Xining S Rd, Taipei City (台北市西寧南路36號), Ambassador Theatres (國賓影城) at Breeze Center (微風廣場), 7F, 39 Fuxing S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市復興南路一段39號7樓) and Ambassador Theatres (國賓影城) at Spring Center (長春廣場), 176 Changchun Rd, Taipei City (台北市長春路176號).
Individual tickets cost NT$230 per screening (NT$200 for students with ID and people with disabilities). A booklet of tickets costs NT$1,499 for eight screenings, available through 7-Eleven ibon kiosks before Nov. 3
For more information, visit the festival’s bilingual Web site at www.goldenhorse.org.tw.
The year was 1991. A Toyota Land Cruiser set out on a 67km journey up the Junda Forest Road (郡大林道) toward an old loggers’ camp, at which point the hikers inside would get out and begin their ascent of Jade Mountain (玉山). Little did they know, they would be the last group of hikers to ever enjoy this shortcut into the mountains. An approaching typhoon soon wiped out the road behind them, trapping the vehicle on the mountain and forever changing the approach to Jade Mountain. THE CONTEMPORARY ROUTE Nowadays, the approach to Jade Mountain from the north side takes an
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had caused a crisis in which China fired missiles into the sea and the US deployed carriers off the coast of Taiwan.” Yes, that’s right, mighty Chen caused that crisis all by himself. Neither the US nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exercised any agency. Nye then nostalgically invoked the comical specter
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April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the hardest by the 7.1-magnitude Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake on April 21, 1935. It remains the deadliest in Taiwan’s recorded history, claiming around 3,300 lives and injuring nearly 12,000. The disaster completely flattened roughly 18,000 houses and damaged countless more. The social activist and