Minions
If you don’t know what a Minion is, you may as well have been living under a rock. These skittish, cute, pill-shaped creatures first appeared on the big screen in the 2010 animated film Despicable Me and soon became a global cultural phenomenon, their popularity surpassing the main characters. Thus, the only reasonable course of action for a film company was to, yes, make an entire movie about Minions. The resulting production (featuring 899 Minions, all voiced by co-director Pierre Coffin) appears to fall more on the slapstick comedy side than the Despicable Me films, revealing the backstory of the Minions who have been looking for evil masters to serve since the beginning of time. Three Minions (named Kevin, Stuart and Bob) are the protagonists, tasked with finding a new master. Despite the seemingly ramped up silliness, let’s hope that Minions, like its predecessors, will also prove entertaining for adults. And if you have kids, better buy your tickets now. Fun fact: This is Sandra Bullock’s first time playing an evil character in almost 30 years of acting.
The Gallows
If you aren’t nauseous enough (or scared enough) after last week’s V/H/S: Viral, you’re in luck, because for the second week in a row a found footage horror film is hitting the box office. The Gallows is produced by Jason Blum, who also brought us the Insidious and Paranormal Activity series. Twenty years after a student is accidentally hanged in a high school play, the school prepares to resurrect the play in an attempt to honor the victim. However, things go wrong when a few students break into school to sabotage the play. Obviously you can’t sneak into school during the day, and at night is when scary things happen. As expected, the place is haunted (as if high school wasn’t scary enough), the doors are all suddenly locked and an invisible force starts dragging students into the sky with a noose around their necks. Hopefully, there’s more to the plot than that in 81 minutes of screen time.
Gatao (角頭)
After Monga (艋舺) comes another hot-blooded Taiwanese gangster movie, where yiqi (義氣, loyalty and righteousness,) and power are the conflicting driving forces between people’s actions. Gatao tells the story of two gangs battling for control over Jianguo Market (建國市場). This main plot branches into various subplots exploring a variety of relationships: a young, foreign-educated third-generation gang boss challenging the calm, battle-tested leader of a rival organization, a recently released inmate torn between his grandmother and loyalty to his underworld brothers, a man who hides his feelings from the woman he loves to keep her safe and finally, a power struggle between friends. The trailer is packed with violent encounters, a brief sex scene, a tear-jerking moment, an epic street battle, lots of clubs, knives and guns and lots of angry people. Should be at least entertaining, even if it might, as some local critics may say, “corrupt social values.”
Aferim!
Set in Romania during Ottoman rule, Aferim! with its ironic title (meaning “Bravo” in Turkish) depicts a father-and-son lawman team tracking down an escaped gypsy slave who had been sleeping with his master’s wife. Shot in 35mm black and white film, the trailer shows an absurd, over-the-top satirical comedy, but a dark one at that, exploring racism, sexism and other manifestations of human cruelty. The reality is stark — gypsy slavery was widespread in Romania until the mid-1800s, and even today they suffer from discrimination. Described as a furious yet beautiful road trip movie on horseback, perhaps this is the only way to explore a past that many filmmakers would rather avoid. Yet, the comedy is just a vehicle. Laugh, but also reflect. History, whether we like it or not, often remains unchanged. This movie netted Radu Jude the 2015 Silver Bear for Best Director award at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year.
The Chambermaid Lynn
The Chinese title of this German film, translates as Woman Under the Bed (床底下的女人). And no, it’s not a cheesy horror film. Lynn is an obsessive-compulsive chambermaid at a large hotel who is withdrawn but desires intimacy. She tries to get closer to humanity by doing things like trying on guests’ clothes, scrutinizing their belongings and … hiding underneath their beds. One day, Lynn observes a session between androgynous dominatrix prostitute Chiara and her client. The two then begin an unlikely relationship. Despite the provocative plot devices, critics say the film focuses less on the expected themes of sadomasochism and sexual awakening, than it does the shift in relationship balance that happens when opposites collide.
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
Over the course of former President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 11-day trip to China that included a meeting with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping (習近平) a surprising number of people commented that the former president was now “irrelevant.” Upon reflection, it became apparent that these comments were coming from pro-Taiwan, pan-green supporters and they were expressing what they hoped was the case, rather than the reality. Ma’s ideology is so pro-China (read: deep blue) and controversial that many in his own Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hope he retires quickly, or at least refrains from speaking on some subjects. Regardless