Everest
This film is based on the true events of the 1996 Mount Everest Disaster, where a deadly blizzard took eight lives, making it the deadliest day on the mountain until the record was surpassed in 2014. The plot follows the trials and tribulations of two rival expedition groups, led respectively by characters played by Jake Gyllenhaal and Rob Hall (who incidentally have opposite personalities for dramatic effect), culminating in the day of their final ascent as a massive blizzard strikes. This is pure Hollywood entertainment, featuring a star-studded cast doing almost humanly impossible things highlighted by breathtaking special effects — and you should probably do yourself a favor and watch it in 3D. Like most disaster films, the premise is simple, but it does seem to explore various personal topics (why climb Everest?), providing a human side to a film featuring the cruelty of nature.
The Light Only Shines There
This Japanese film paints a brutally honest picture of the lives of three young people on the fringe of society living in a desolate Hokkaido town: a drifter haunted by the past who drowns his sorrows in alcohol, a young, animated but eccentric parolee, and his sister who turns to prostitution to keep the family afloat and her brother out of jail. The drifter eventually starts a love affair with the sister, but things remain bleak and only make a turn for the worse from here. Even Yasushi Sato, the author of the book which this film is based on, committed suicide one year after publishing the book. Mipo Oh won best director at the Montreal Film Festival, while the film won best international picture at Raindance.
Southpaw
Jake Gyllenhaal goes from hippie mountaineer to a hulking boxer trying to get his life back on track in the same week in Southpaw. The story is nothing original — an athlete who embarks on redemption road when his perfect life falls apart after a tragedy. In fact, the plot elements are downright cliche — the main character’s troubled upbringing, the devoted wife concerned about his health, the legendary trainer who gets him back on his feet and the daughter whom he needs to fight to win back. Yet, Gyllenhaal, who spent five months bulking up for this film, looks great as usual and his performance should be the deciding factor whether this film succeeds or not.
Ju-on: The Final Curse
The eighth and final Japanese installment of the horror franchise (remade as The Grudge in the US) picks up after the events of the last film, Ju-on: The Beginning of the End as Mai Shono, the sister of the disappeared schoolteacher, is determined to find out what happened and end the curse once and for all. But of course, things don’t go smoothly and she falls into the curse herself. If you are new to this franchise, the story revolves around a murdered housewife and her son who become vengeful spirits and harm humans that come their way. The humans who are cursed may in turn affect people around them as well. Critics say that the film relies too much on jump scares and killings without much story development, but really, what more is there to do after six sequels featuring the same two ghosts?
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
Peter Brighton was amazed when he found the giant jackfruit. He had been watching it grow on his farm in far north Queensland, and when it came time to pick it from the tree, it was so heavy it needed two people to do the job. “I was surprised when we cut it off and felt how heavy it was,” he says. “I grabbed it and my wife cut it — couldn’t do it by myself, it took two of us.” Weighing in at 45 kilograms, it is the heaviest jackfruit that Brighton has ever grown on his tropical fruit farm, located