The Tempest
Julie Taymor’s star-studded, effects-laden reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s great fantasy. The cast is led by Helen Mirren playing Prospera, a female incarnation of the play’s great wizard, who makes for a fascinating twist on the drama in the mother/daughter relationship with Miranda, played by Felicity Jones. Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond, Gladiator) as Caliban and Ben Whishaw (Perfume, Bright Star) as Ariel, shine as the play’s supernatural beings, and contrast well with Alfred Molina and Russell Brand serving as the comic duo Stephano and Trinculo. Taymor’s ambition to make the film a cinematographic tour de force means plenty of sound and fury, but the cast valiantly holds its own.
Alpha and Omega
The title of this animated animal comedy, which strives to imitate the success of Pixar and Dreamworks, is taken from the pecking order of wolves, though instead of the alpha male we have Kate, an alpha female, and Humphrey, the omega male. Humphrey and Kate are in love, but for this relationship to reach fruition, many hurdles must be overcome. There is also an environmental theme of humans interfering in the natural order. (Our heroes are captured and removed from their idyllic home in the Canadian Rockies). Though the film boasts some big names, including Dennis Hopper, Danny Glover and Christina Ricci among the cast of voices, it’s all been done before and better.
The City Below (Unter dir die Stadt)
This study of an adulterous relationship against the backdrop of the German banking world is a solid piece of work by director Christoph Hochhausler, whose previous films This Very Moment and Low Profile received plaudits for their strong visual style and clear-eyed take on human relationships. Svenja Steve (Nicolette Krebitz), the jobless wife of bank worker Olli (Mark Waschke), embarks on an affair with her husband’s boss and finds some degree of empowerment in her confined and conservative world. The characters are interesting rather than deserving of sympathy, and Hochhausler cleverly explores the irrationality that exists within even the most regulated lives.
Old Master Q and Little Ocean Tiger (老夫子之小水虎傳奇)
The latest cinematic outing of a popular Chinese-language cartoon created by Alfonso Wong (王家禧) that was first published in 1962 and continues to be serialized today. Old Master Q has provided material for many features, and this animated film covers a wide field, including gags about contemporary Taiwanese politics (the comic is now owned by WangZ Inc, a company based in Taiwan) and spoofs on superhero and sci-fi movies. The film features the voices of TV host Kevin Tsai (蔡康永) of the popular variety show Here Comes Kang and Xi (康熙來了), singer Elva Hsiao (蕭亞軒), and Kuo Shu-yao (郭書瑤), aka Yao Yao (瑤瑤).
Mr and Mrs Incredible
This big-budget Hong Kong spoof is billed as The Incredibles meets Mr and Mrs Smith, and is full of variety show gags and jokes poking fun at any number of recent movies. There is also much humor of the Wayans brothers’ Scary Movie ilk. The story is about a husband and wife team of martial artists who find retirement boring and return to fight evil and bring peace to mankind, ending up in many humorous situations. The high profile cast is led by Louis Koo (古天樂) and Sandra Ng (吳君如).
My Magic
Film by Singaporean director Eric Khoo (丘金海) about a single dad who gives up his drunken ways to train as a magician in a bid to recover his son’s respect and affection. The film, which is predominantly in Tamil, but with some English and Hoklo, was Singapore’s official entry for the Best Foreign Film category in the 2009 Oscars and features a strong performance from professional magician Bosco Francis as the father figure. Khoo’s second film 12 Storeys (1997) was the first Singaporean film to be invited to Cannes, and My Magic was nominated for the Golden Palm in 2008.
A few weeks ago I found myself at a Family Mart talking with the morning shift worker there, who has become my coffee guy. Both of us were in a funk over the “unseasonable” warm weather, a state of mind known as “solastalgia” — distress produced by environmental change. In fact, the weather was not that out of the ordinary in boiling Central Taiwan, and likely cooler than the temperatures we will experience in the near-future. According to the Taiwan Adaptation Platform, between 1957 and 2006, summer lengthened by 27.8 days, while winter shrunk by 29.7 days. Winter is not
A sultry sea mist blankets New Taipei City as I pedal from Tamsui District (淡水) up the coast. This might not be ideal beach weather but it’s fine weather for riding –– the cloud cover sheltering arms and legs from the scourge of the subtropical sun. The dedicated bikeway that connects downtown Taipei with the west coast of New Taipei City ends just past Fisherman’s Wharf (漁人碼頭) so I’m not the only cyclist jostling for space among the SUVs and scooters on National Highway No. 2. Many Lycra-clad enthusiasts are racing north on stealthy Giants and Meridas, rounding “the crown coast”
March 25 to March 31 A 56-year-old Wu Li Yu-ke (吳李玉哥) was straightening out her artist son’s piles of drawings when she inadvertently flipped one over, revealing the blank backside of the paper. Absent-mindedly, she picked up a pencil and recalled how she used to sketch embroidery designs for her clothing business. Without clients and budget or labor constraints to worry about, Wu Li drew freely whatever image came to her mind. With much more free time now that her son had found a job, she found herself missing her home village in China, where she
In recent years, Slovakia has been seen as a highly democratic and Western-oriented Central European country. This image was reinforced by the election of the country’s first female president in 2019, efforts to provide extensive assistance to Ukraine and the strengthening of relations with Taiwan, all of which strengthened Slovakia’s position within the European Union. However, the latest developments in the country suggest that the situation is changing rapidly. As such, the presidential elections to be held on March 23 will be an indicator of whether Slovakia remains in the Western sphere of influence or moves eastward, notably towards Russia and