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.
Sept. 23 to Sept. 29 The construction of the Babao Irrigation Canal (八堡圳) was not going well. Large-scale irrigation structures were almost unheard of in Taiwan in 1709, but Shih Shih-pang (施世榜) was determined to divert water from the Jhuoshuei River (濁水溪) to the Changhua plain, where he owned land, to promote wet rice cultivation. According to legend, a mysterious old man only known as Mr. Lin (林先生) appeared and taught Shih how to use woven conical baskets filled with rocks called shigou (石笱) to control water diversion, as well as other techniques such as surveying terrain by observing shadows during
If you are a Western and especially a white foreign resident of Taiwan, you’ve undoubtedly had the experience of Taiwanese assuming you to be an English teacher. There are cultural and economic reasons for this, but one of the greatest determinants is the narrow range of work permit categories that exist for Taiwan’s foreign residents, which has in turn created an unofficial caste system for foreigners. Until recently, laowai (老外) — the Mandarin term for “foreigners,” which also implies citizenship in a rich, Western country and distinguishable from brown-skinned, southeast Asian migrant laborers, or wailao (外勞) — could only ever
In recent weeks news outlets have been reporting on rising rents. Last year they hit a 27 year high. It seems only a matter of time before they become a serious political issue. Fortunately, there is a whole political party that is laser focused on this issue, the Taiwan Statebuilding Party (TSP). They could have had a seat or two in the legislature, or at least, be large enough to attract media attention to the rent issue from time to time. Unfortunately, in the last election, Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) acted as a vote sink for
This is a film about two “fools,” according to the official synopsis. But admirable ones. In his late thirties, A-jen quits his high-paying tech job and buys a plot of land in the countryside, hoping to use municipal trash to revitalize the soil that has been contaminated by decades of pesticide and chemical fertilizer use. Brother An-ho, in his 60s, on the other hand, began using organic methods to revive the dead soil on his land 30 years ago despite the ridicule of his peers, methodically picking each pest off his produce by hand without killing them out of respect