Zhao Shi Gu Er (趙氏孤兒)
The title, which translates as “the orphan of the Zhao family,” has also been released as Sacrifice. This is the newest film by Chinese director Chen Kaige (陳凱歌), who shot to international stardom with Farewell My Concubine in 1993, but has had a distinctly uneven record since then. Zhao Shi Gu Er, a big-budget costume drama adapted from one of Chinese opera’s best-loved stories, is chock-full of passion and vengeance, and boasts a solid cast led by Ge You (葛優), who stars alongside Wang Xueqi (王學圻), Fan Bingbing (范冰冰) and Vincent Chiu (趙文卓). Part of a brutal power play in the imperial court, the Zhao clan is exterminated, but one child is saved by a doctor, who goes on to use the youngster to exact revenge on the perpetrator of the killings.
The Adjustment Bureau
Based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, this head-spinning mix of political paranoia and pop theology is enlivened by splendid acting by Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. The two provide a powerful old-fashioned romantic jolt. The Adjustment Bureau may look like a lightweight version of Inception, but it manages to come together as a hugely entertaining piece of cinema in its own right. Brought to the screen by writer-director-producer George Nolfi (who wrote The Bourne Ultimatum and Ocean’s Twelve), The Adjustment Bureau has sufficient pace and sharp enough dialogue to carry it over some of its more sketchy plot holes.
Incendies
Based on a play by Wajdi Mouawad, Incendies follows twins Jeanne (Melissa Desormeaux-Poulin) and Simon (Maxim Gaudette) as they fulfill their dead mother’s wish for them to uncover their family’s past. The film, by Canadian director Denis Villeneuve, was nominated in the best foreign language picture category at the Oscars last month. Incendies has high ambitions to explore the reverberations of Middle Eastern violence as it tears families apart, wherever they might seek refuge. The mix of melodrama, some riveting moments of action, sharp plot twists and long stretches of deliberate art house pacing demand a lot from its audience, but overall this film is a compelling and thoughtful piece of work.
Gantz
Live action adaptation of a well-known manga by Hiroya Oku. Gantz is an action adventure in which Kei Kurono and his friend Masaru Kato die in a train accident and are revived as fighters by a mysterious agency called Gantz, which deploys a band of “dead” humans in its battle against an alien race. Each mission the two engage in wins them points that can be collected to obtain their freedom and a return to normal life. The original manga is famous for its violence, nudity, and the tendency to present humanity as being pretty reprehensible, but the movie has toned this down to turn it into a mainstream science fiction action film.
Tomorrow’s Joe
Manga adaptation about a sad-sack boxer who gets things together after meeting up with an old coach and fights his way back to self-respect and boxing success. Essentially a Rocky story, but set in 1960s Japan. This is the movie debut of pop idol Tomohisa Yamashita, who plays the title role, and whose boy band good looks set the tone for the film, which features some highly choreographed fights, but certainly nothing that is likely to knock you out.
May 6 to May 12 Those who follow the Chinese-language news may have noticed the usage of the term zhuge (豬哥, literally ‘pig brother,’ a male pig raised for breeding purposes) in reports concerning the ongoing #Metoo scandal in the entertainment industry. The term’s modern connotations can range from womanizer or lecher to sexual predator, but it once referred to an important rural trade. Until the 1970s, it was a common sight to see a breeder herding a single “zhuge” down a rustic path with a bamboo whip, often traveling large distances over rugged terrain to service local families. Not only
Ahead of incoming president William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20 there appear to be signs that he is signaling to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that the Chinese side is also signaling to the Taiwan side. This raises a lot of questions, including what is the CCP up to, who are they signaling to, what are they signaling, how with the various actors in Taiwan respond and where this could ultimately go. In the last column, published on May 2, we examined the curious case of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) heavyweight Tseng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) — currently vice premier
The last time Mrs Hsieh came to Cihu Park in Taoyuan was almost 50 years ago, on a school trip to the grave of Taiwan’s recently deceased dictator. Busloads of children were brought in to pay their respects to Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正), known as Generalissimo, who had died at 87, after decades ruling Taiwan under brutal martial law. “There were a lot of buses, and there was a long queue,” Hsieh recalled. “It was a school rule. We had to bow, and then we went home.” Chiang’s body is still there, under guard in a mausoleum at the end of a path
Last week the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) released a set of very strange numbers on Taiwan’s wealth distribution. Duly quoted in the Taipei Times, the report said that “The Gini coefficient for Taiwanese households… was 0.606 at the end of 2021, lower than Australia’s 0.611, the UK’s 0.620, Japan’s 0.678, France’s 0.676 and Germany’s 0.727, the agency said in a report.” The Gini coefficient is a measure of relative inequality, usually of wealth or income, though it can be used to evaluate other forms of inequality. However, for most nations it is a number from .25 to .50