On a show like The Wire, policemen and criminals belong to competitive organizations locked in uneasy, permanent coexistence. In We Own the Night, James Gray's operatic new film, the police and drug dealers are imagined as warring tribes in a fight to the death. The Russian gangsters on one side appear ready to take out the entire NYPD. And some of the cops are just as eager to forgo the legal niceties and do some righteous killing of their own.
In other words, We Own the Night is not a procedural, in which the narrative is threaded through details of the job and close observations of big-city life. It is, rather, a bloody, passionate melodrama, self-consciously Shakespearean - or Biblical, or Greek, take your pick of atavisms - in its intentions.
At the enter are two brothers: Joseph Grusinsky (Mark Wahlberg), a clean-cut, ambitious family man rising quickly through the ranks of the department, and Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix), who has forsaken the family surname and who manages a raucous nightclub in Brooklyn.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF CMC
Cain and Abel; the ant and the grasshopper. Bobby and Joseph present, at least at first, wildly contrasting temperaments as well as divergent career choices. Joseph takes after their father, Burt (Robert Duvall), a high-ranking officer who can barely contain his disappointment and disgust when Bobby is in the room. But Bobby, while he may be as irresponsible as his father and brother think he is, also has a sweet, impulsive, hedonistic side. He shows it in an early scene of sexual bliss with his girlfriend, Amada (Eva Mendes), and in the way he bounces through his cavernous club and into the apartment of its owner, a grandfatherly Russian named Buzhayev. Bobby is loving, and also lovable.
But he is also a traitor. Much as he may revel in the company of his surrogate family, the claims of blood are stronger. When Buzhayev's gangster nephew Vadim (Alex Veadov) causes Joseph to be hurt, Bobby puts away his childish sense of fun and gets down to the grim business of settling scores.
As this happens, the life begins to leak out of We Own the Night, and out of Phoenix's performance.
There is nothing especially interesting or new in the film. We Own the Night is set in 1988, a wilder and more dangerous time in the city's history. But in spite of a few historically apt musical selections and a digitally enhanced cameo appearance by former mayor Ed Koch, this is less a period movie than an exercise in free-floating nostalgia.
It's not nostalgia for any particular time or place, but rather for a mythical, tribal America where the obligations of clan trump individual desires. An index of Bobby's betrayal is that he has adopted his mother's maiden name, and his attempt to escape into a life of easy pleasure, social mobility and self-invention is doomed from the start. Where he ends up is where he always belonged.
That US assistance was a model for Taiwan’s spectacular development success was early recognized by policymakers and analysts. In a report to the US Congress for the fiscal year 1962, former President John F. Kennedy noted Taiwan’s “rapid economic growth,” was “producing a substantial net gain in living.” Kennedy had a stake in Taiwan’s achievements and the US’ official development assistance (ODA) in general: In September 1961, his entreaty to make the 1960s a “decade of development,” and an accompanying proposal for dedicated legislation to this end, had been formalized by congressional passage of the Foreign Assistance Act. Two
President William Lai’s (賴清德) March 13 national security speech marked a turning point. He signaled that the government was finally getting serious about a whole-of-society approach to defending the nation. The presidential office summarized his speech succinctly: “President Lai introduced 17 major strategies to respond to five major national security and united front threats Taiwan now faces: China’s threat to national sovereignty, its threats from infiltration and espionage activities targeting Taiwan’s military, its threats aimed at obscuring the national identity of the people of Taiwan, its threats from united front infiltration into Taiwanese society through cross-strait exchanges, and its threats from
Despite the intense sunshine, we were hardly breaking a sweat as we cruised along the flat, dedicated bike lane, well protected from the heat by a canopy of trees. The electric assist on the bikes likely made a difference, too. Far removed from the bustle and noise of the Taichung traffic, we admired the serene rural scenery, making our way over rivers, alongside rice paddies and through pear orchards. Our route for the day covered two bike paths that connect in Fengyuan District (豐原) and are best done together. The Hou-Feng Bike Path (后豐鐵馬道) runs southward from Houli District (后里) while the
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at