The Laundryman 青田街一號
The Laundryman is the directorial debut of Taiwanese writer Lee Chung (李中), who apparently cannot be mentioned without referring to his famous father, writer and screenwriter Hsiao Yeh (小野). It seems to be a mishmash of genres, as the trailer opens with a laundry shop that doubles as an assassination service, but things turn paranormal when a hitman with a troubled soul starts seeing ghosts and seeks help from a cutesy, pink-haired psychic medium who turns into the vehicle for these ghosts to interact with the hitman. Like many Taiwanese movies these days, the dialogue and action seem to take place in a constant manic state, which actually could be an endearing national trademark after you get used to it. It’s an irreverent black comedy with lots of violence that is sure to entertain, but also takes a look at human nature through the absurd.
Hitman: Agent 47
The genetically-engineered assassin protagonist of the popular first-person shooter video game Hitman: Codename 47 hits the big screens again in this reboot of the 2007 adaptation. This time, Agent 47 goes up against an organization that wants to find out the secret to his powers, and replicate them. Not surprisingly, he teams up with a young woman, also with secret origins, who may have the key to it all. There’s just one problem here. In the game, the player can choose to advance by way of an all-out bloodbath, but earns more points for tactical efficiency such as conserving bullets, not triggering alarms and killing targets without collateral damage. Yet, the trailer shows Agent 47 choosing the former path (such as ramming enemies with cars) which may indicate that the movie kind of misses the point of the game, or of an assassin movie at all.
Marvel Stories
If you’re feeling blue that there won’t be any Marvel action movies until Feb. 2016, take solace in the fact that Taiwan is the only country in the world that will be showing the French television documentaries Marvel Renaissance and Marvel Universe in one setting as Marvel Stories. The first film tells the story of how Marvel recovered from its 1996 bankruptcy to take over Hollywood and become an entertainment industry trendsetter. Descriptions of the film promises juicy tidbits and insider information that would surprise the casual fan, and the audience will hear from Hollywood producers, comic book writers and Avi Arad, former head of Marvel Entertainment and founder of Marvel Studios. Not sure what the second film is about, but hey, it’s 70 more minutes of Marvel screen time you’ll get to enjoy this year.
Pixels
If you grew up playing classic arcade games like Donkey Kong and Centipede, you’ll probably be ecstatic about the film’s premise of giant, pixelated characters from these games attacking the earth and its promotional posters featuring Pac-Man devouring its way through San Francisco. The US government doesn’t know what to do, so the illiterate president (Kevin James) turns to his best friend, a former video game child prodigy-turned-sad sack loser played by, if it isn’t obvious enough, Adam Sandler. Such a promising premise seems to have been turned into a formulaic Sandler bro-comedy with him playing the same person he’s played in most of his films. Worst thing is, it’s not even an original idea — the movie was inspired by a two-and-a-half minute YouTube short film by French filmmaker Patrick Jean, which critics say is better than its feature-lenght counterpart. I won’t lie, though, the special effects are pretty cool.
The Tribe
Set in a school for deaf children, The Tribe is an innovative reason to make a silent film — all dialogue is carried out in Ukrainian sign language, and there is no music. “You don’t need subtitles or voiceovers, because for love and hatred you don’t need translation,” the trailer declares. The effects are haunting, fitting for the grim portrayal of human brutality in a school ruled by a gang of students, “The Tribe,” which deals in organized crime and prostitution. When a member of the tribe breaks all the unwritten rules in the name of love, things turn nasty. The Guardian calls it “one of the most disturbing films of the year,” presumably in a way completely opposite from The Human Centipede 3, yet hitting on the same theme of how depraved people can be.
This is the year that the demographic crisis will begin to impact people’s lives. This will create pressures on treatment and hiring of foreigners. Regardless of whatever technological breakthroughs happen, the real value will come from digesting and productively applying existing technologies in new and creative ways. INTRODUCING BASIC SERVICES BREAKDOWNS At some point soon, we will begin to witness a breakdown in basic services. Initially, it will be limited and sporadic, but the frequency and newsworthiness of the incidents will only continue to accelerate dramatically in the coming years. Here in central Taiwan, many basic services are severely understaffed, and
Jan. 5 to Jan. 11 Of the more than 3,000km of sugar railway that once criss-crossed central and southern Taiwan, just 16.1km remain in operation today. By the time Dafydd Fell began photographing the network in earnest in 1994, it was already well past its heyday. The system had been significantly cut back, leaving behind abandoned stations, rusting rolling stock and crumbling facilities. This reduction continued during the five years of his documentation, adding urgency to his task. As passenger services had already ceased by then, Fell had to wait for the sugarcane harvest season each year, which typically ran from
It is a soulful folk song, filled with feeling and history: A love-stricken young man tells God about his hopes and dreams of happiness. Generations of Uighurs, the Turkic ethnic minority in China’s Xinjiang region, have played it at parties and weddings. But today, if they download it, play it or share it online, they risk ending up in prison. Besh pede, a popular Uighur folk ballad, is among dozens of Uighur-language songs that have been deemed “problematic” by Xinjiang authorities, according to a recording of a meeting held by police and other local officials in the historic city of Kashgar in
It’s a good thing that 2025 is over. Yes, I fully expect we will look back on the year with nostalgia, once we have experienced this year and 2027. Traditionally at New Years much discourse is devoted to discussing what happened the previous year. Let’s have a look at what didn’t happen. Many bad things did not happen. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) did not attack Taiwan. We didn’t have a massive, destructive earthquake or drought. We didn’t have a major human pandemic. No widespread unemployment or other destructive social events. Nothing serious was done about Taiwan’s swelling birth rate catastrophe.
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