Whatever Works
Woody Allen is back in Manhattan after his cinematic sojourn in Europe that gave us Match Point (2005), Scoop (2006) and Vicky Christina Barcelona (2008). With Whatever Works, Allen is revisiting a philosophical vein, and uses Larry David (co-creator of Seinfeld) to present Boris Yellnikoff, a more than usually abrasive take on the usual Allen character fighting off the emptiness of life with a dark wit and a taste for beautiful women. In this case, the woman is Melody (Evan Rachel Wood), who helps smooth the edge off a work that Allen fans may either like or hate for what seem to be its intentionally rough edges.
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
Formulaic action adventure based on a video game of the same name, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time manages to defy the low expectations of such adaptations and turn in a respectable piece of exciting family cinema. With the unexpected choice of Jake Gyllenhaal in the leading role, the action hero is given some degree of depth to justify our sympathy in his peril, though, since this is a Disney film, we know that all’s going to be well in the end. Supporting cast features A-listers Ben Kingsley and Alfred Molina who are out to have some fun, and this is also passed on to the audience.
Women.Us Film Festival (Women • 我們影展)
Running until June 11, the Women.Us Film Festival at the Wonderful Cinema (真善美戲院, formerly the Majestic) features six art house films, many of them Oscar nominees with a strong female theme or about children. Titles include Seraphine, about painter Seraphine de Senlis, Caramel (Sukkar Banat), a romantic comedy about the daily lives of five Lebanese women living in Beirut, Fauteuils d’Orchestre, about a young woman’s discovery of Paris’ glamorous theater world, Vitus, about a young piano prodigy who rebels against his parents, A Touch of Spice (Politiki Kouzina), about a young Greek boy who discovers the power of the culinary arts, and Lost in Translation, Sofia Coppola’s idiosyncratic film with Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson adrift in Tokyo. Tickets are NT$170. The festival runs through to June 11. Screening times can be found at www.movie.com.tw/wonderful.
Comedy Makes You Cry (拍賣春天)
Local sexy comedy that has been hailed by NOWnews as a radical departure from Taiwan cinema’s fatal passion for art house sensibilities. With it bevy of sexy ladies, including Hollywood actress Bai Ling (白靈), TV personality Lin Mei-shiu (林美秀) and model Lene Lai (賴琳恩), a story about working girls trying to make ends meet, a touch of black humor and a heavy dose of sentiment, this film clearly has the mass market firmly in its sights. As a venture into the mainstream, the heavy emphasis on innuendo, tits and ass might make lovers of Taiwanese cinema cry for all the wrong reasons.
Nodame 2
The sequel to Nodame, which was released in Taiwan on March 5, this film is based on a best-selling manga about romance and the minor tribulations of a down-at-heel orchestra taken over by an ambitious new conductor. A major selling point of the film version is the locations, with the story taking in the musical capitals of Europe, including Vienna, Prague and Paris. Slapstick comedy, a good-looking young cast and romantic contretemps mixed in with easy listening classical favorites are likely to make this an appealing concoction.
2nd Cross Strait Film Festival
(2010第二屆兩岸電影展)
The 2nd Cross Strait Film Festival will open today at Showtime Cinema (今日秀泰影城) located at 52 Ermei Street, Taipei City (台北市峨眉街52號). Tickets for all screenings at the festival, which runs until June 1, have already sold out. More information can be found at blog.sina.com.tw/csfe2010.
“Why does Taiwan identity decline?”a group of researchers lead by University of Nevada political scientist Austin Wang (王宏恩) asked in a recent paper. After all, it is not difficult to explain the rise in Taiwanese identity after the early 1990s. But no model predicted its decline during the 2016-2018 period, they say. After testing various alternative explanations, Wang et al argue that the fall-off in Taiwanese identity during that period is related to voter hedging based on the performance of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Since the DPP is perceived as the guardian of Taiwan identity, when it performs well,
The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on May 18 held a rally in Taichung to mark the anniversary of President William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20. The title of the rally could be loosely translated to “May 18 recall fraudulent goods” (518退貨ㄌㄨㄚˋ！). Unlike in English, where the terms are the same, “recall” (退貨) in this context refers to product recalls due to damaged, defective or fraudulent merchandise, not the political recalls (罷免) currently dominating the headlines. I attended the rally to determine if the impression was correct that the TPP under party Chairman Huang Kuo-Chang (黃國昌) had little of a
At Computex 2025, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) urged the government to subsidize AI. “All schools in Taiwan must integrate AI into their curricula,” he declared. A few months earlier, he said, “If I were a student today, I’d immediately start using tools like ChatGPT, Gemini Pro and Grok to learn, write and accelerate my thinking.” Huang sees the AI-bullet train leaving the station. And as one of its drivers, he’s worried about youth not getting on board — bad for their careers, and bad for his workforce. As a semiconductor supply-chain powerhouse and AI hub wannabe, Taiwan is seeing
Jade Mountain (玉山) — Taiwan’s highest peak — is the ultimate goal for those attempting a through-hike of the Mountains to Sea National Greenway (山海圳國家綠道), and that’s precisely where we’re headed in this final installment of a quartet of articles covering the Greenway. Picking up the trail at the Tsou tribal villages of Dabang and Tefuye, it’s worth stocking up on provisions before setting off, since — aside from the scant offerings available on the mountain’s Dongpu Lodge (東埔山莊) and Paiyun Lodge’s (排雲山莊) meal service — there’s nowhere to get food from here on out. TEFUYE HISTORIC TRAIL The journey recommences with
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