Captain America: Civil War
‘Cap’ and Iron Man last year tussled over an egotistical, genocidal robot in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but now it is full-out war as our favorite superhero team splits into two factions over whether they should be allowed to run amok and destroy stuff, or be subject to government regulation … and still destroy stuff. And as if there were not enough characters to remember already, this film will see the addition of several new characters, including Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man and a new Peter Parker played by Tom Holland (he will get his own film next year). The Avengers are facing critical times, though, as they need to quickly kiss and makeup to amass enough firepower to combat the upstart Justice League, which just concluded its own internal slugfest when Batman took on Superman … wait — wrong universe here. Nevermind.
Embrace of the Serpent
If you like Colombian director Ciro Guerra’s work, better enjoy him now before he goes Hollywood next year with Detainee, which is — wait for it — based on a dystopian trilogy. Not that Detainee is going to be bad, it is just sad to see someone known for his original, relevant storytelling to fall into commercial cinema’s latest cliche — most likely thanks to Embrace of the Serpent becoming the first Colombian film ever nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars. Anyway, Embrace follows Karamakate, a shaman and the last of his tribe from the Amazon who, on two occasions 31 years apart, guide white explorers (based on real people) looking for the same medicinal herb in the jungle. Its message of dying traditions and destruction from colonization and modernization is powerful, and we hope that Guerra continues to make films like this while we congratulate his move into primetime.
Valley of Love
Famous French actors Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Huppert, who were on-screen lovers in Loulou 46 years ago, reunite to portray two famous French actors named Gerard and Isabelle who were a couple 25 years ago and had a son together in this drama by Guillaume Nicloux. After the son’s death, the two receive letters that instruct them to travel to Death Valley, California, and the story unfolds from there. Incidentally, the real life Gerard Depardieu had a son — also an actor — who died young at age 37. His name? Guillaume. That is some crazy stuff right there. The film competed for the Palme d’Or last year and won the Cesar Award for Best Cinematography.
Go With Me
Apparently this film is called Blackway in the US where it was made, but release here takes on the name of the book the movie is based on the 160-page short novel by Castle Freeman Jr, where Blackway is the name of the main antagonist who terrorizes the residents of a small logging community. The movie, directed by Swedish up-and-comer Daniel Alfredson (the last two Girl with the Dragon Tattoo films and The Man on the Balcony) features Julia Stiles, a young returnee to the community who takes on Blackway with the help of a few daring locals, one of them played by Anthony Hopkins, who played the titular character in Alfredson’s Kidnapping Freddy Heineken. He curiously retains his British accent despite the movie being set in the Pacific Northwest, something that bothered the hell out of many critics.
Taxi
More than five years ago, the Iranian government banned filmmaker Jafar Panahi from making films, talking to the media and leaving the country for 20 years — but somehow he has found a way to secretly continue to work and smuggle the results to European festivals. Taxi is his third film since the ban, debuting at last year’s Berlin Film Festival and snagging a Golden Bear. And as usual, he finds ways to continue on with his social commentary and criticism, this time posing as a taxi driver and filming his conversations with passengers. The media seems to be unclear whether or not the passengers are actors (there are no credits because he cannot name any collaborators), but it is probably telling that the film is billed as docufiction, not a documentary. Also, despite its serious subject and Panahi’s precarious circumstances, critics say that it comes across as light-hearted and funny.
May 6 to May 12 Those who follow the Chinese-language news may have noticed the usage of the term zhuge (豬哥, literally ‘pig brother,’ a male pig raised for breeding purposes) in reports concerning the ongoing #Metoo scandal in the entertainment industry. The term’s modern connotations can range from womanizer or lecher to sexual predator, but it once referred to an important rural trade. Until the 1970s, it was a common sight to see a breeder herding a single “zhuge” down a rustic path with a bamboo whip, often traveling large distances over rugged terrain to service local families. Not only
Ahead of incoming president William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20 there appear to be signs that he is signaling to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that the Chinese side is also signaling to the Taiwan side. This raises a lot of questions, including what is the CCP up to, who are they signaling to, what are they signaling, how with the various actors in Taiwan respond and where this could ultimately go. In the last column, published on May 2, we examined the curious case of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) heavyweight Tseng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) — currently vice premier
The last time Mrs Hsieh came to Cihu Park in Taoyuan was almost 50 years ago, on a school trip to the grave of Taiwan’s recently deceased dictator. Busloads of children were brought in to pay their respects to Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正), known as Generalissimo, who had died at 87, after decades ruling Taiwan under brutal martial law. “There were a lot of buses, and there was a long queue,” Hsieh recalled. “It was a school rule. We had to bow, and then we went home.” Chiang’s body is still there, under guard in a mausoleum at the end of a path
Last week the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) released a set of very strange numbers on Taiwan’s wealth distribution. Duly quoted in the Taipei Times, the report said that “The Gini coefficient for Taiwanese households… was 0.606 at the end of 2021, lower than Australia’s 0.611, the UK’s 0.620, Japan’s 0.678, France’s 0.676 and Germany’s 0.727, the agency said in a report.” The Gini coefficient is a measure of relative inequality, usually of wealth or income, though it can be used to evaluate other forms of inequality. However, for most nations it is a number from .25 to .50