When the Dragon Swallowed the Sun
Documentary by Dirk Simon that takes a fresh look at the tensions between Tibet and China, reassessing the success of the 14th Dalai Lama and counting the cost of his pacifist stance, which clearly has done little to influence the way policymakers in Beijing view the issue of subjecting Tibet to their will. The film faces up to some of the fundamental contradictions of the current position of monks, who in many ways serve as a leadership for the resistance against China, but must also accommodate their religious vows, and considers the idea that the movement for autonomy has been weakened by the divide between the Dalai Lama and more radical elements. A fresh look at events and a re-evaluation of the future make this a thought-provoking film for anyone interested in the issue.
Pina
A must-see for dance lovers and 3D skeptics. Directed by Wim Wenders, this documentary is a homage to the great German choreographer Pina Bausch, featuring interviews, both with the star and her dancers. Bausch died soon after the film went into production, and the intensity of emotion, expressed in her creative work, is given a further twist as dancers recreate the power and mystery of her vision. Wenders allows the 3D format to bring audiences into greater intimacy with the dancers, without crowding them. There is so much in the great choreographer’s life that the film feels a little broken up, with no focus either on an individual work or dancer. For all that, the film manages to convey something important about one of the major figures of 20th-century dance.
Step Up to the Plate
Documentary by director Paul Lacoste provides a captivating look behind the scenes of Michel Bras’ legendary hotel-restaurant in the remote plains of Laguiole, France, which has held three Michelin star for many years. There is plenty of kitchen wizardry on display, but like the recent release Jiro: Dreams of Sushi, this film is as much about the philosophy of food, tradition, and at the very center, the transfer of these things from father to son. At the heart of Step Up to the Plate is Michel Bras, one of the great luminaries of the European culinary establishment, and his son Sebastien who is soon to take over his father’s mantle. A clever balancing act between a family drama and food porn, this is a must see for foodies.
Burma: A Human Tragedy
Narrated and produced by Anjelica Huston, this documentary provides savage testimony to the inequity perpetrated by the military junta in Burma and the terrible suffering of the Burmese people, especially the Karen, which the junta has targeted for ethnic cleansing. It is not a film for the fainthearted, and shows images of the bloody toll exacted by the brutal and incompetent regime. The film attempts to clarify the complex web of hostilities that ravage the land, and is an in-your-face indictment of a conflict that for the most part remains on the fringes of international consciousness.
First Time
Another local romantic drama featuring beautiful people suffering from incurable illness. Sometimes you just wish they would get on with it and just die — but that is a rather unsympathetic way to look at Angelababy (aka, Yang Ying 楊穎), who plays a sickly young girl who only has her dreams of romance to sustain her in her lonely life. Inevitably, she meets up with rock ’n’ roller Mark Chao (趙又廷), who encourages her to realize her dreams. Tragedy and spiritual uplift follow. It is not much of a surprise that the real marketing ploy of the film is theme music penned by the king of Taiwan’s contemporary music scene Jay Chou (周杰倫), and indie singer/songwriter Cindy Yen (袁詠琳).
A Few Best Men
Nobody has a good word to say about this gross-out Australian comedy that makes a host of talented people look bad. For starters, the film is directed by Stephan Elliott (Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Easy Virtue), but he is unable to make much of the brain numbingly stupid script by Dean Craig (Death at a Funeral), which is painfully derivative. It borrows shamelessly from his own Death at a Funeral, with plenty of echoes from the The Hangover. American Pie looks classy by comparison, and one cannot help feel sorry for Olivia Newton-John, who tries to vamp it up, but she is no match for Stifler’s Mom.
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
Relations between Taiwan and the Czech Republic have flourished in recent years. However, not everyone is pleased about the growing friendship between the two countries. Last month, an incident involving a Chinese diplomat tailing the car of vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) in Prague, drew public attention to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) operations to undermine Taiwan overseas. The trip was not Hsiao’s first visit to the Central European country. It was meant to be low-key, a chance to meet with local academics and politicians, until her police escort noticed a car was tailing her through the Czech capital. The
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