How to Train Your Dragon 2
The first film from 2010 was an endearingly original and sure-footed story of a small boy called Hiccup who, in refusing to engage in his village’s infatuation with killing dragons, discovers that these creatures, if offered friendship, provide a multitude of rewards. It had most of the conventional themes of believing in yourself, personal growth through friendship, happiness through understanding and communication, but the packaging was filled with deftly outlined characters, humor and warmth. It also looked like it was going to be a one off, but given its success, a sequel was inevitable. With no easy hooks, the creators where forced to be original, and in this sequel, have created a movie that probably surpasses the first, and is in contention for best animation sequel ever, right up their with the Toy Story trilogy. The story, which involves the discovery of a whole new dragon Eden, as well as bandits who have harnessed dragons to their own evil ends, has given the animators a huge canvas, and they have stepped up to the plate with abundant invention. The script is full of humor and heart, and the characters gain depth and interest. The voice cast, which did such sterling work, is back, with the addition of Cate Blanchet as Hiccup’s long-lost mother, who is key to giving heft to the powerful story of human relationships that is embedded in this joyful fantasy escapade.
The Immigrant
A historical melodrama on a scale and with the depth of Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather and Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America, or a vast pageant of tortured souls who fail to be more than a gaudy cabaret act. The Immigrant, which has vast ambitions as a drama of the human spirit, has polarized critics. In terms of the craftsmanship the film is unimpeachable, and the cinematography has a deep tonality that is beautifully suggestive, but whether the ambitions of the film actually manage to make it into the screenplay is a matter of contention. Set in 1921, The Immigrant follows the unfortunate circumstances that drive Ewa (Marion Cotillard), a woman seeking the American dream, into a life of prostitution, and a complex, volatile relationship with two men — her conflicted pimp (Joaquin Phoenix) and his romantic cousin (Jeremy Renner). There is a self-consciously theatrical quality to the acting that is definitely not for all tastes, but the technical skills are most definitely there. The question of whether the actors manage to shoulder the weight of the story’s ambition is quite another matter.
Violette
Another high-class biopic from Martin Provost, who directed the award-winning Seraphine, the story of French painter Seraphine de Senlis, discovered by an art collector while working as a house cleaner. Violette tackles the figure of Violette Leduc, a writer who began an intense relationship with Simone de Beauvoir in the years after the war that lasted throughout their lives. Leduc and De Beauvoir are vastly different characters brought together by their joint passion about the power of literature in the lives of women. Emmanuelle Devos as the title character is a powerful presence, and the director takes his mission to explain the power of Leduc’s writing seriously. He shows us her many struggles with herself and her environment, but as worthy as all this is, for the audience, it really is a bit of a slog, though one enlivened by lovely period detail.
Z Storm (Z風暴)
There are plenty of big stars in this ambitious heist movie, which tries to claim kudos because of its pedigree that relates it to Infernal Affairs (無間道), boasting John Chong (莊澄) as sole producer. Sadly, this is all that Z Storm has taken from the hit franchise. It is filled with a faux seriousness and stuffed to bursting with tedious exposition of a plot that aims to be convoluted, but succeeds only in being confused. There are far too many characters, and veteran performers Louis Koo (古天樂), Gordon Lam (林家棟), Michael Wong (王敏德) don’t have much of a chance to do more than the usual tough snarls. Z Storm does not have the script to handle the taunt financial thriller it wants to be, and rather tries to be a promotion for Hong Kong’s currently beleaguered Independent Commission Against Corruption, which was recently engulfed in scandal. The action scenes are ordinary in the extreme, so Z Storm is likely to disappoint across the board.
A few weeks ago I found myself at a Family Mart talking with the morning shift worker there, who has become my coffee guy. Both of us were in a funk over the “unseasonable” warm weather, a state of mind known as “solastalgia” — distress produced by environmental change. In fact, the weather was not that out of the ordinary in boiling Central Taiwan, and likely cooler than the temperatures we will experience in the near-future. According to the Taiwan Adaptation Platform, between 1957 and 2006, summer lengthened by 27.8 days, while winter shrunk by 29.7 days. Winter is not
Taiwan’s post-World War II architecture, “practical, cheap and temporary,” not to mention “rather forgettable.” This was a characterization recently given by Taiwan-based historian John Ross on his Formosa Files podcast. Yet the 1960s and 1970s were, in fact, the period of Taiwan’s foundational building boom, which, to a great extent, defined the look of Taiwan’s cities, determining the way denizens live today. During this period, functionalist concrete blocks and Chinese nostalgia gave way to new interpretations of modernism, large planned communities and high-rise skyscrapers. It is currently the subject of a new exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Modern
March 25 to March 31 A 56-year-old Wu Li Yu-ke (吳李玉哥) was straightening out her artist son’s piles of drawings when she inadvertently flipped one over, revealing the blank backside of the paper. Absent-mindedly, she picked up a pencil and recalled how she used to sketch embroidery designs for her clothing business. Without clients and budget or labor constraints to worry about, Wu Li drew freely whatever image came to her mind. With much more free time now that her son had found a job, she found herself missing her home village in China, where she
In recent years, Slovakia has been seen as a highly democratic and Western-oriented Central European country. This image was reinforced by the election of the country’s first female president in 2019, efforts to provide extensive assistance to Ukraine and the strengthening of relations with Taiwan, all of which strengthened Slovakia’s position within the European Union. However, the latest developments in the country suggest that the situation is changing rapidly. As such, the presidential elections to be held on March 23 will be an indicator of whether Slovakia remains in the Western sphere of influence or moves eastward, notably towards Russia and