Amal
Perhaps trying to capitalize on the success of Slumdog Millionaire, this Canadian-produced film from 2007 is enjoying an arthouse release. Life on — or near — the skids is the setting and virtue is the theme as Amal, the driver of an automated rickshaw in New Delhi, goes well out of his way to help an unfortunate woman involved in an accident. Meanwhile, a different kind of millionaire to the game show variety has the humble driver in his sights. This colorful melodrama has won several awards and will appeal to those who long for goodness and decency in their movie diet.
A Widow at Last
When her husband dies in a car accident, a woman suddenly finds that life is much more enjoyable without the old coot. But a desire to keep up appearances means that she can’t bring herself to admitting as much to her family, friends or even her long-time lover. This French comedy, which occasionally flirts with farce, is also known in English as The Merry Widow.
Dance, Subaru!
Subaru is the name of a Japanese teenager who, like so many dance movie heroines, must overcome family tragedy and other formidable obstructions to realize her goal of becoming a professional dancer — a ballerina, in fact. But this film is a much more mature and sober affair, with anguish much closer to the surface than Hollywood might tolerate, while the range of dance scenes reflects as much the necessary rigors of training and gaining expertise as throwing eye candy at the viewer. Which is to say, this is not Flashdance. Based on a manga.
Kitaro and the Millennium Curse
Pop idol Eiji Wentz is back as Kitaro, the famed half-human, half-spirit monster who has had an impact on Japanese popular culture for decades. Originally a manga, this Kitaro is a live-action sequel with lots of strange characters and amusing elements as our hero, Hercules-style, embarks on a mission to wrest five divine items from their monstrous protectors and so lift a curse affecting both the realm of the spirit monsters and the human world.
Feb. 17 to Feb. 23 “Japanese city is bombed,” screamed the banner in bold capital letters spanning the front page of the US daily New Castle News on Feb. 24, 1938. This was big news across the globe, as Japan had not been bombarded since Western forces attacked Shimonoseki in 1864. “Numerous Japanese citizens were killed and injured today when eight Chinese planes bombed Taihoku, capital of Formosa, and other nearby cities in the first Chinese air raid anywhere in the Japanese empire,” the subhead clarified. The target was the Matsuyama Airfield (today’s Songshan Airport in Taipei), which
For decades, Taiwan Railway trains were built and serviced at the Taipei Railway Workshop, originally built on a flat piece of land far from the city center. As the city grew up around it, however, space became limited, flooding became more commonplace and the noise and air pollution from the workshop started to affect more and more people. Between 2011 and 2013, the workshop was moved to Taoyuan and the Taipei location was retired. Work on preserving this cultural asset began immediately and we now have a unique opportunity to see the birth of a museum. The Preparatory Office of National
China has begun recruiting for a planetary defense force after risk assessments determined that an asteroid could conceivably hit Earth in 2032. Job ads posted online by China’s State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND) this week, sought young loyal graduates focused on aerospace engineering, international cooperation and asteroid detection. The recruitment drive comes amid increasing focus on an asteroid with a low — but growing — likelihood of hitting earth in seven years. The 2024 YR4 asteroid is at the top of the European and US space agencies’ risk lists, and last week analysts increased their probability
On Jan. 17, Beijing announced that it would allow residents of Shanghai and Fujian Province to visit Taiwan. The two sides are still working out the details. President William Lai (賴清德) has been promoting cross-strait tourism, perhaps to soften the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) attitudes, perhaps as a sop to international and local opinion leaders. Likely the latter, since many observers understand that the twin drivers of cross-strait tourism — the belief that Chinese tourists will bring money into Taiwan, and the belief that tourism will create better relations — are both false. CHINESE TOURISM PIPE DREAM Back in July