Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2
Unless you really dislike reading, there’s no way you would wait a whole year to find out what happens in the second part of Mockingjay, the latest victim of the teenage marketing ploy of slicing a film based on one book into two full features (Harry Potter, Twilight, yeah.) As a result, there’s only about 200 pages of relatively large print to cover here in 137 minutes. The series has followed the books pretty closely so far — so expect the pace to be slow. But that doesn’t mean there will be no action, as director Francis Lawrence has promised a real “war movie.” The one problem about movies like these is they’re made solely for people who have followed the series, so either catch up or don’t watch it — unless you like Phillip Seymour Hoffman, for this is the talented late actor’s final big screen appearance.
Secret in Their Eyes
Based on the 2009 Argentine film of the same name, which is in turn based on the 2005 book The Question in Their Eyes by Eduardo Sacheri. The Argentine version won an Oscar for best foreign-language film, so the American rendition makes sure it has plenty of Oscar power by casting veterans Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman, both of whom have won best actress awards, along with best actor nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor. The story follows Roberts and Ejiofor as FBI agents who team with Kidman, a district attorney, to solve the brutal murder of Roberts’ daughter. It seems that the killer was never captured and Eijofor returns years later with a new lead. The circumstances of the murder differ quite a bit from the original film, where it’s a man whose wife is murdered. The changes are reportedly Roberts’ idea, and it’s also reported that the character’s personality remains pretty much the same in both films despite the gender switch. While we’re still talking about Roberts, the cinematography is done by her husband Danny Moder.
Irrational Man
How many films has Woody Allen made so far? And how many are about a middle-aged intellectual in an existential crisis who falls in love with a younger woman? You have Joaquim Phoenix here playing a depressed alcoholic philosophy professor who arrives at campus and is instantly pursued by a student (Emma Stone) and colleague (Parker Posey), both of whom are in relationships. There’s also the Allen-esque themes of murder and morality as Phoenix decides to deal with his existential crisis by committing the perfect crime that he believes is justified and won’t trace back to him. It’s pretty absurd and dark stuff told in a lighthearted manner, and as Allen films usually go, you’ll either love it or hate it. And to answer the first question: we don’t really know, everyone seems to use a different formula to calculate the number. But they all fall somewhere between 45 and 51.
Fly, Kite, Fly (老鷹想飛)
More than 20 years in the making, this documentary pays homage to the black kite, a raptor once commonly seen in Taiwan, but due to habitat destruction and use of pesticides, their population has dwindled to about 400. It follows Shen Chen-chung (沈振中), nicknamed Mr Eagle (老鷹先生), who quit his job as a biology teacher and embarks on a quest to watch the birds and find out why they are dying out in Taiwan while thriving elsewhere, especially in other developed places such as Japan and Hong Kong. The film features a star production team, directed by award-winning filmmaker Liang Chieh-te (梁皆得), narrated by Wu Nien-chen (吳念真) and scored by Lim Giong (林強). You can choose to watch the film in Mandarin or Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), both with English subtitles.
The Measure of Man
The latest work by French director Stephane Brize netted veteran actor Vincent Lindon the Best Actor award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Lindon portrays a 50-something factory worker with a disabled child who, after spending much of the movie looking for a job, finally lands a gig that he hates in order to make ends meet in working class France. That’s about it for the plot, so Lindon’s acting must be superb in this candid social critique that is sure to strike a chord with the country’s socio-economic woes. It’s about life, the everyday struggles of the working class and how they sacrifice their dignity to make ends meet — hence the title. Lindon is the sole star of the film, but he seems to blend well with the other actors, who are all non-professionals. It’s probably not the best film to bring a date to, but it’s one that will engage your intellect.
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
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
Approaching her mid-30s, Xiong Yidan reckons that most of her friends are on to their second or even third babies. But Xiong has more than a dozen. There is Lucky, the street dog from Bangkok who jumped into a taxi with her and never left. There is Sophie and Ben, sibling geese, who honk from morning to night. Boop and Pan, both goats, are romantically involved. Dumpling the hedgehog enjoys a belly rub from time to time. The list goes on. Xiong nurtures her brood from her 8,000 square meter farm in Chiang Dao, a mountainous district in northern Thailand’s