Viva Baseball (球來就打)
Big budget baseball movie from Taiwan, Viva Baseball tells a story that looks at the dark side of of the sport, including game fixing, mafia money and the misuse of government subsidies, mixed in with a tale of the redemptive power of sport, topped off with a splash of romance.
Young Dudes (騷人)
Written and directed by Chen Ying-jung (陳映蓉), who came to prominence back in 2004 with the gay comedy Formula 17 (17歲的天空). This trippy new film mixes up slacker comedy and fantasy sci-fi, has some cool music and attitudes, plenty of silly ideas and nothing to hold it all together.
Sadako 3D
The first 3D release from the classic Japanese Ringu horror franchise directed by Tsutomu Hanabusa. Rumors spread round a school that there is actual footage on the Internet of someone’s suicide. People watch it, people die.
The Possession
A young girl buys an antique box at a junkyard sale. Directed by Ole Bornedal, the story moves along with the comforting predictability of clockwork, reworking many well worn tropes. Inside the box lives a malicious ancient spirit. Of course, the girl opens the box; of course people die.
Eclair (Okashi hourouki)
Adapted from a best selling novel by Shigeru Nishimura and featuring the debut of Hajime Yoshi, a child actor who has shot to fame on the back of this movie. A bittersweet tale of life in post-war Japan with a strong strain of nostalgia for the bad old days.
Fabulous 30
Empowerment chick-flick from Thailand about a woman who gets dumped by her longterm boyfriend after she turns 30 and then faces the challenge of finding love and commitment with a much younger man.
Rainbow Fireflies
Sequel to the popular Japanese anime feature Grave of the Fireflies, this film continues the story from Akiyuki Nosaka’s novel to its heartwarming conclusion. Directed by Konosuke Uda Rainbow Fireflies is stylistically indebted to the work of anime master Mamoru Hosoda.
Simon and the Oaks
Based on a best-selling Swedish novel, Simon and the Oaks is an epic tale of two families from 1939 to 1952. The film paints a picture of life in Sweden during World War II. Stars Bill Skarsgaard, brother of Stellan Skarsgaard.
Thermae Rome
The top grossing film in Japan this year, Thermae Rome is a wacky tale of an architect from ancient Rome (under the Emperor Hadrian) who discovers a time tunnel in his local bath house that leads to a bath house in contemporary Japan.
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
Moritz Mieg, 22, lay face down in the rubble, the ground shaking violently beneath him. Boulders crashed down around him, some stones hitting his back. “I just hoped that it would be one big hit and over, because I did not want to be hit nearly to death and then have to slowly die,” the student from Germany tells Taipei Times. MORNING WALK Early on April 3, Mieg set out on a scenic hike through Taroko Gorge in Hualien County (花蓮). It was a fine day for it. Little did he know that the complex intersection of tectonic plates Taiwan sits
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