Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
This movie continues the saga started in last year’s The Maze Runner, based on the novels by James Dashner of the ever-popular young adult post-apocalyptic dystopian science fiction genre. The film picks up literally minutes after the events of the previous one without any recapping, so you better do your homework. All the major cast members return, but while there is plenty of running, there’s no maze this time. Instead, the protagonists are running through “the scorch,” where ruins of the old world are covered in sand, inhabited by zombie-like creatures. It’s phase two of whatever trials these teens have to go through for still unknown reasons, and there’s not going to be a conclusion because there is going to be a third film, which, lets pray that they don’t split into two movies.
Dalai Lama, the 14th — The World Champion of Peace
This Japanese documentary on the Dalai Lama claims to portray the man in “a new light” and in the most “humane and candid” manner. It’s also described by many sources as “the most intimate film of the Dalai Lama in history.” Looking at the trailer, these claims may be true. The light-hearted tone is set from the get-go when a Japanese man asks the Dalai Lama how many women he has dated. The crew also films his everyday life in India, including a scene where he is wiping his nose while reading scripture. Later, another man asks him if he had a choice, what kind of hairstyle would he sport. A punk hairstyle, the Dalai Lama replies, forming a mohawk on his head with his hand. It’s not all fun and games, though, as he also discusses topics such as violence and peace.
Contracted: Phase II
As if the first film, about a woman who literally starts rotting from a sexually transmitted disease after being raped by a stranger at a party, wasn’t shallow and disturbing enough, IFC Midnight has released a sequel — without any input from original writer-director Eric England. So this time, the poor dude from the first film who was so in love with the woman that he slept with her before she died, finds himself with the rotting disease, maggots crawling under his skin and all. The first film purely focuses on the woman’s rapid physical deterioration, but this time the guy tries to track down the rapist to uncover the mystery behind the disease while infecting people around him. It’s body horror at its finest, a genre that doesn’t scare but aims to gross-out as much as possible — which, given the fact that someone bothered to make a sequel, means that it does have its appeal.
Our Little Sister
Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda’s adaptation of an acclaimed manga kicked off Cannes festivities earlier this year, telling the story of three sisters living alone in their grandmother’s house who meet their orphaned teenage half-sister Suzu for the first time at their father’s funeral. The mother is missing from the picture, and the siblings have been taking care of themselves with the eldest one as the matriarch. It’s no Cinderella story, as the three warmly welcome Suzu into their home even though her mother was the one whom the father ran away with — it’s a slice of life, gentle and slow-paced. Seasons change, punctuated by vignettes of the characters’ annual rituals such as making plum wine, as life moves on softly in classic Japanese family drama style, which may test many viewers’ patience, but can be ultimately rewarding.
Selma
This American historical drama is based on the three Selma to Montgomery marches in Alabama in 1965, calling for the right to vote for African-Americans. The marches took place between March 7 and 21, and the film, originally released late last year, was re-released on March 20 in the US to commemorate the event’s 50th anniversary. The film has received rave reviews, garnering a whopping 99 percent rating score on Rotten Tomatoes, and David Oyelowo has been especially praised for his portrayal of King. Revolving around iconic historic figures, the film explores the background, subplots, side-stories and obstacles involving King’s campaign and also takes a look at his family and marriage, showing a personal touch to the events that would change American history.
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
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
It’s hard to know where to begin with Mark Tovell’s Taiwan: Roads Above the Clouds. Having published a travelogue myself, as well as having contributed to several guidebooks, at first glance Tovell’s book appears to inhabit a middle ground — the kind of hard-to-sell nowheresville publishers detest. Leaf through the pages and you’ll find them suffuse with the purple prose best associated with travel literature: “When the sun is low on a warm, clear morning, and with the heat already rising, we stand at the riverside bike path leading south from Sanxia’s old cobble streets.” Hardly the stuff of your
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