The Wolf of Wall Street
It is probably as difficult to totally dislike The Wolf of Wall Street as it is to actually like a single one of its characters. The joy of the film is the zest with which director Martin Scorsese recreates the life of excess inhabited by the film’s protagonist Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio), who steals millions from investors and never shows even the slightest tinge of remorse. The originality of the film lies in Scorsese’s and DiCaprio’s refusal to pass judgement, but simply to do a show and tell of Wall Street’s gross criminality. The Wolf of Wall Street has won critical acclaim, but it is hard not to wonder how much this is simply due to the joy of seeing Scorsese back in form; in terms of narrative appeal, The Wolf of Wall Street cannot touch the director’s early great films like Goodfellas. Weighing in at 180 minutes, a lot of screen time is spent snorting, smoking or otherwise ingesting drugs in the company of buxom and undressed ladies of the night, which is all very well, but ultimately gets a bit dull.
Inside Llewyn Davis
The Coen Brothers are consistently innovate filmmakers unafraid of risks. Inside Llewyn Davis, which follows a week in the life of a young singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961, does not have the same kind of hard edge like No Country for Old Men or the screwball world view of The Big Lebowski. This character study of a talented musician trying to find himself seems rather tame for the Coens, but the critics are raving, with some suggesting that it is the most outstanding work in a career already littered with great movies. The title character of Llewyn Davis is played with restrained intensity by Oscar Isaac, who thoroughly inhabits the role and makes what could easily be an annoying and unsympathetic character into somebody whose hopes and fears we can all relate to. Nice supporting roles from Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake and John Goodman, as musicians that Davis has occasional contact. The film is sweet, sad, often darkly funny, and for all its understatement, overflowing with heart.
The Book Thief
American-German war drama based on a novel of the same name by Markus Zusak which follows the life of a young girl, Liesel, during the rise of Third Reich. Directed by Brian Percival (Downton Abbey) from a script by Michael Petroni, The Book Thief is a solid piece of filmmaking with broad appeal and considerable depth. There are moments when the story of Liesel, a girl who loves reading, and whose foster family is involved in giving refuge to Jews fleeing persecution, is a little bit too precious for its own good, but for the most part, strong performances by Emma Watson as the central character, and a well-judged turn by Geoffrey Rush as her foster father, manage to anchor the film, saving it from its worst excesses of sentimentality. Charming films set against the backdrop of the Holocaust can easily detour into tacky and tasteless territory, and The Book Thief is not immune from such charges, but its good intentions to tell a gripping story shine through.
Winter’s Tale
The big screen directing debut of writer and producer Akiva Goldsman, who penned some big and overwrought features such as I, Robot and The Da Vinci Code. Winter’s Tale is a passion project perfectly suited for Valentine’s Day. Set in 1916 and present-day Manhattan, Winter’s Tale follows the story of Peter Lake (Colin Farrell), a thief who falls in love with Beverly Penn (Jessica Brown Findlay), a dying girl who has tuberculosis and occupies one of the houses he breaks into. The love story extends to the present day, and takes its inspiration from the idea that some love is too strong to die. The turn-of-the-century setting provides a bit of period drama to give the picture a more sumptuous feel, and Farrell does his usual charming Irish rogue in a way that is no more offensive than usual. Russell Crowe is a gangster out for Lake’s life and there is even a magical horse who helps bring love back against all the odds.
Blue is the Warmest Color
It is not often that a gay and lesbian film sends mainstream theater critics into ecstasies, but Blue is the Warmest Color has done just that. The story is about Adele (Adele Exarchopoulos), whose life is changed when she meets Emma (Lea Seydoux), a young woman with blue hair, who allows her to discover desire, to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. It is a simple coming-of-age story that is less concerned with classic storytelling than with creating electric on-screen chemistry. Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, the film runs over three hours, and is an epic exploration of intimacy between two young women learning about each other and the world around them. Performances by Exarchopoulos and Seydoux are fiercely fearless, capturing their characters on the cusp of discovering all the greatest secrets of life.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su