E. SHA Age (藝霞年代)
The only Taiwanese release for this week is a documentary that looks back at — and recreates — the exploits of the famed E. SHA song and dance troupe, which folded in 1984 after more than two decades of performances and international tours. This is a real trip down memory lane for older viewers; younger folks smitten with boy and girl band ephemera could do worse than check out what their parents and grandparents were enjoying at a difficult time in Taiwan’s history. Screening at Cinema 7 (絕色影城) in Ximending, the Sun theater (日新大戲院) in Taichung and the Vieshow complex in Tainan from today, then at the Vieshow complex in Kaohsiung from next Friday.
Halloween II
Michael Myers is back in this Rob Zombie-directed sequel to his sociologically angled remake from a few years ago, though it is not a remake of the 1981 sequel (sorry, hospital horror fans). As subtle and as sophisticated as two kicks to the throat, escaped lunatic Michael continues his rampage in search of his sister who escaped his clutches in Part 1. The violence in this one is so brutal and metronomic that it will sorely test those who think they’re watching a scary movie; the dreamlike glimpses inside Michael’s mind could send others into fits. There is, however, a welcome and muscular cameo by Margot Kidder.
Fame
Another remake, this time of the iconic performance film of the early 1980s, targeting an audience that wasn’t even born at the time; in Taiwan, many will never have heard of the original. A bunch of talented kids learn the ropes at the New York City High School of Performing Arts; some will make it, others won’t, but it all ends in a big number that won’t be selling albums or (these days) generating massive iPod downloads, despite the talent on show. Generally, this was poorly received, but it might play better for those who never saw the original and harbor fantasies of making it big in showbiz.
Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky
Within a matter of weeks, out comes another film about Coco Chanel. This one delves not into her rise to the top ranks of the fashion world, but with her subsequent affair with the famed (and married) composer. Unlike Coco Before Chanel, this one is liberally spiced with sex scenes as the scheming Coco gets her man. The rather unsympathetic Stravinsky is played by Mads Mikkelsen, who was simply perfect as James Bond’s gambling, bleeding-eye foe in Casino Royale.
The Admiral
The relentless hunt for European product by Taiwan’s small distributors this week brings us an apparently revisionist Russian epic that turns monarchist naval commander Alexander Kolchak into a nationalist hero for 21st century viewers. The good admiral starts the film in a battle against the Germans during World War I and continues by repelling Bolshevik forces on land. Meanwhile, this heroic fellow has taken to lusting after the wife of one of his colleagues. Sounds like a real charmer. Still, if you’re into period frocks and taboo romance ...
Sing, Salmon, Sing!
“Salmon” would appear to be the unkind nickname given to an enthusiastic but insecure Japanese schoolgirl who loves singing in her school choir. Unfortunately, she flips out when an unflattering photo of her appears in the school rag and, despondent, quits the group. Musical rehabilitation follows when she falls in with a group of “punks” who are musically inclined. This family-friendly fare comes with generous amounts of music. Remarkably, it doesn’t seem to be based on a manga. Japanese title: Utatama.
Kitaro the Movie: Japan Explodes!! PLUS Digimon Savers the Movie: Ultimate Power! Activate Burst Mode
Gegege no Kitaro, the ancient boy spirit who labors to keep the human world free of supernatural strife, is back in this animated film for kids after a run of two live-action pictures. Kitaro answers a request for help from a female spirit, which doesn’t bode well given the film’s subtitle. Accompanying Kitaro is a short Digimon film with a long title in which our heroes face an evil being that sends masses of people to sleep with mysterious thorns.
The Man Who Loves
The man here is a forlorn chap who can’t seem to sustain a relationship, a problem worsened by the model love life of his gay brother. This Italian film is a sincere attempt to depict the frailties of men in relationships and offers a few name stars (Monica Bellucci, whom the hero breaks up with, is the most familiar to Taiwanese audiences), but its critical reception has been so-so. Starts tomorrow.
Cross-Straits Films Exhibition
Here’s another mini-festival of six Chinese films, this time at the Xinyi Vieshow in Taipei from Monday to Wednesday next week and the Vieshow Durban in Taichung from Wednesday through Friday. The titles are the disaster flick Super Typhoon (超強颱風), which Variety described as “low-rent” camp and whose hero is a mayor (sounds like a must-see); Wild Horse From Shangri-La (命懸800公里), Apology (道歉), The Ring of Rainbow Flower (夏天有風吹過), Old Fish (千鈞一髮) and Wheat
(長平大戰之麥田). The last two open separately next week and the week after. Some of the films will introduce the director and actors after the screening.
May 11 to May 18 The original Taichung Railway Station was long thought to have been completely razed. Opening on May 15, 1905, the one-story wooden structure soon outgrew its purpose and was replaced in 1917 by a grandiose, Western-style station. During construction on the third-generation station in 2017, workers discovered the service pit for the original station’s locomotive depot. A year later, a small wooden building on site was determined by historians to be the first stationmaster’s office, built around 1908. With these findings, the Taichung Railway Station Cultural Park now boasts that it has
Wooden houses wedged between concrete, crumbling brick facades with roofs gaping to the sky, and tiled art deco buildings down narrow alleyways: Taichung Central District’s (中區) aging architecture reveals both the allure and reality of the old downtown. From Indigenous settlement to capital under Qing Dynasty rule through to Japanese colonization, Taichung’s Central District holds a long and layered history. The bygone beauty of its streets once earned it the nickname “Little Kyoto.” Since the late eighties, however, the shifting of economic and government centers westward signaled a gradual decline in the area’s evolving fortunes. With the regeneration of the once
The latest Formosa poll released at the end of last month shows confidence in President William Lai (賴清德) plunged 8.1 percent, while satisfaction with the Lai administration fared worse with a drop of 8.5 percent. Those lacking confidence in Lai jumped by 6 percent and dissatisfaction in his administration spiked up 6.7 percent. Confidence in Lai is still strong at 48.6 percent, compared to 43 percent lacking confidence — but this is his worst result overall since he took office. For the first time, dissatisfaction with his administration surpassed satisfaction, 47.3 to 47.1 percent. Though statistically a tie, for most
In February of this year the Taipei Times reported on the visit of Lienchiang County Commissioner Wang Chung-ming (王忠銘) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and a delegation to a lantern festival in Fuzhou’s Mawei District in Fujian Province. “Today, Mawei and Matsu jointly marked the lantern festival,” Wang was quoted as saying, adding that both sides “being of one people,” is a cause for joy. Wang was passing around a common claim of officials of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the PRC’s allies and supporters in Taiwan — KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party — and elsewhere: Taiwan and
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