London Has Fallen
Returning big name actors, big guns, planes, tanks and big explosions — this larger-than-life sequel to Olympus Has Fallen takes on an even grander scale than its predecessor. So is the story. The first movie was about rescuing the US president. Now safe and sound, the president (Aaron Eckhart) leads the charge in saving the world from a plot to kill all the world leaders at the funeral of a British Prime Minister. Original director Antoine Fuqua is gone, though, replaced by Iranian-Swedish Babak Najafi in his first English-language film. Anyway, there’s not much else to say except to expect for more epic explosions and pretty crazy action scenes. And there’s Morgan Freeman.
Carol
Named one of last year’s best films by more than 130 lists and nominated for several major awards, the omission of Carol from the Best Picture and Best Director categories during the Oscars added to the recent controversy on diversity, with many major publications wondering if it was because of its lesbian content. Nineteen years in the making and written by Phyllis Nagy of Mrs Harris fame, the film is based on novelist Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt, which she wrote under the pseudonym Claire Morgan. Written in 1952, Highsmith did not publicly associate herself with the book until later in life because it was semi-autobiographical. Set in a time when homosexuality was still taboo, the film stars Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, two women of different ages and backgrounds who fall in love.
The Moment (我們的那時此刻)
Documentary filmmaker Yang Li-chou’s (楊力州) project was originally meant to commemorate 50 years of the Golden Horse awards, but it has become more, with him calling it a “love letter to the people of Taiwan.” Through scenes from 51 films, The Moment explores and reflects on life in Taiwan throughout the years, not only remembering important events but also showing how these films affected ordinary people — such as how female factory workers were enthralled with romance flicks and how patriotic productions inspired young men to attend military school. “If there’s a movie that can help the generations understand each other; if there’s a movie that we can watch with our parents or children to understand times that are not familiar to us, how great would that be,” Yang says.
The Priests
This film was born when South Korean director Jang Jae-hyun saw a priest anxiously waiting for someone through the window of a fast food restaurant. It features a priest and young a seminarian who try to free a girl who is possessed by something very, very evil. Exorcisms are frowned upon in modern day Korean society, which is why the priest is somewhat of an outcast, and the seminarian is also a troublemaker who cheats on tests and drinks alcohol. We also hear that at some point, a traditional Korean shaman takes a crack at the exorcism — so we get two cultures in one movie. Hopefully there is more than just the exorcism to the plot, though, as there is plenty of material to work with here as South Korea’s first known exorcism film. Curiously, there’s a pig named Don Don in the credits.
Chimamire Sukeban Chainsaw
With a blood-stained schoolgirl in a very short skirt swinging around a chainsaw in the school halls, this film has all the makings of a typical Japanese over-the-top gore flick that promises blood, zombies, ninjas and, well, at least one scene of a rocket coming out from her crotch, as shown in the trailer and movie poster. Yamaguchi Hiroki hasn’t directed a film since 2004’s extremely disturbing Hellevator, and is back for more weirdness with this popular manga adaptation. Similar films like Robogeisha and Tokyo Gore Police have blown minds without making any sense, and this movie sure will too. You will think it’s completely insane (and inappropriate) and probably walk out of it bewildered — but chances are, you probably enjoyed it.
A few weeks ago I found myself at a Family Mart talking with the morning shift worker there, who has become my coffee guy. Both of us were in a funk over the “unseasonable” warm weather, a state of mind known as “solastalgia” — distress produced by environmental change. In fact, the weather was not that out of the ordinary in boiling Central Taiwan, and likely cooler than the temperatures we will experience in the near-future. According to the Taiwan Adaptation Platform, between 1957 and 2006, summer lengthened by 27.8 days, while winter shrunk by 29.7 days. Winter is not
Taiwan’s post-World War II architecture, “practical, cheap and temporary,” not to mention “rather forgettable.” This was a characterization recently given by Taiwan-based historian John Ross on his Formosa Files podcast. Yet the 1960s and 1970s were, in fact, the period of Taiwan’s foundational building boom, which, to a great extent, defined the look of Taiwan’s cities, determining the way denizens live today. During this period, functionalist concrete blocks and Chinese nostalgia gave way to new interpretations of modernism, large planned communities and high-rise skyscrapers. It is currently the subject of a new exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Modern
March 25 to March 31 A 56-year-old Wu Li Yu-ke (吳李玉哥) was straightening out her artist son’s piles of drawings when she inadvertently flipped one over, revealing the blank backside of the paper. Absent-mindedly, she picked up a pencil and recalled how she used to sketch embroidery designs for her clothing business. Without clients and budget or labor constraints to worry about, Wu Li drew freely whatever image came to her mind. With much more free time now that her son had found a job, she found herself missing her home village in China, where she
In recent years, Slovakia has been seen as a highly democratic and Western-oriented Central European country. This image was reinforced by the election of the country’s first female president in 2019, efforts to provide extensive assistance to Ukraine and the strengthening of relations with Taiwan, all of which strengthened Slovakia’s position within the European Union. However, the latest developments in the country suggest that the situation is changing rapidly. As such, the presidential elections to be held on March 23 will be an indicator of whether Slovakia remains in the Western sphere of influence or moves eastward, notably towards Russia and