Rated G, directed by Lasse Hallstrom, with Kevin Spacey (Quoyle), Julianne Moore (Wavey Prowse), Judi Dench (Agnis Hamm), Cate Blanchett (Petal Bear), running time: 111 minutes.
Quoyle loses his barfly wife to a car accident and parents to a double suicide in short order. Starting life over, he takes his daughter and follows his aunt Agnis to a remote fishing vilage in upstate New York from whence his ancestors hailed generations earlier. Taking work as a columnist for the local paper, his readership quickly grows, as does his sense of self and his love for widowed school teacher Wavey. Based on E. Annie Proulx's novel by the same name, The Shipping News suffers much the same fate as Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter in that it's too much a book for the screen. However, watching Judi Dench dump her brother's ashes in the commode then turn around and urinate on them is a classic film moment.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ERA
In the March 9 edition of the Taipei Times a piece by Ninon Godefroy ran with the headine “The quiet, gentle rhythm of Taiwan.” It started with the line “Taiwan is a small, humble place. There is no Eiffel Tower, no pyramids — no singular attraction that draws the world’s attention.” I laughed out loud at that. This was out of no disrespect for the author or the piece, which made some interesting analogies and good points about how both Din Tai Fung’s and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) meticulous attention to detail and quality are not quite up to
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