The Tourist
A reworking of ideas from Jerome Salle’s 2005 chic French espionage thriller Anthony Zimmer, which starred Sophie Marceau and Yvan Attal. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s Hollywood version has upped the ante in star power with the likes of Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp, who are supported by Paul Bettany, Timothy Dalton, and Steven Berkoff. The Tourist drips style, but the dialogue falls a bit too pat and everyone is so scrubbed and coiffured that the film makes a Roger Moore Bond flick look like a gritty exploration of crime by comparison. That said, for audience members who like to watch good looking people pretending that they are playing a high stakes game, The Tourist is a more than adequate way of passing a couple of hours in the cinema.
Me, 19 (我,19歲)
Music, dancing, young people on the cusp of romantic and artistic discoveries: With its music video cinematography and soap opera style, an obtrusive score, and fantasy sequences that cut into various styles of anime, Me, 19 has it all. But there is so much packaging, it’s impossible not to wonder whether there is any content. Chang Chieh (張捷) plays a young, exceptionally talented cellist who falls for a struggling young dancer and has to face the challenges of ambition, love and the realities of growing up. Produced by Peggy Chiao (焦雄屏) and starring young actor Anita Lee (李路加) and veterans Jack Kao (高捷) as the stern parent and Huang Kuo-lun (黃國倫) as the flamboyant musical maestro.
Frozen (為你鍾情)
A film by new generation Hong Kong director Kwok Chi-kin (郭子健) that combines science fiction, comedy and nostalgia for the ballads of Leslie Cheung (張國榮). The film stars Philippines-born jazz crooner Janice M. Vidal, who has become a vibrant presence in the Hong Kong music scene. Her character discovers a cryogenically preserved body of a woman in a family vault. It transpires that this is her mother, who died in a traffic accident 20 years earlier, and when regenerated, introduces her daughter to the heyday of Canto-pop and one of its eternal icons: Leslie Cheung. Cheung’s music figures extensively throughout the movie, which coupled with Vidal’s own considerable fan base, is likely to give Frozen a solid following, whatever its other merits.
Kungfu, Wingchun (功夫,詠春)
Building on the success of the three recent Ip Man (葉問) movies, which have done much to reinvigorate interest in the wingchun (詠春) style of martial arts, Kungfu, Wingchun takes the next logical cinematic step by introducing a woman into the main martial role. Wingchun is a form of kung fu that has long prided itself on turning weakness into strength, and this film, which features female kung fu star Kara Hui (惠英紅) and emerging media personality Bai Jing (白靜), tells the story of a girl who beats the guys at their own game. Good acting and a comedic take on the martial arts genre gives Kungfu, Wingchun a lightness that might lead the way to rediscovering the appeal of early Jackie Chan (成龍) films.
Odds in Love (愛情鬥陣)
Directed by Chen Hsiu-yu (陳秀玉), Odds in Love stars Robert Wing Fan (范植偉) of Crystal Boys (孽子) and Prince of Tears (淚王子) fame, and singer Kelly Poon (潘嘉麗), who emerged from Project Super Star, a Singapore talent show. They play two A-list celebrities who loathe each other but who are required by their agents to work together on a project. Cue mutual bitching as they go about bad-mouthing one another, fighting rumors that they are an item, then, surprise, surprise, they fall in love. Shot in Taipei, Shanghai and Singapore. The whole enterprise is as stilted as the film’s English title.
A Better Tomorrow (Mujeogja)
A South Korean remake of the John Woo (吳宇森) film of the same name. The original made Woo a star and gave Chow Yun-fat (周潤發) his ticket to Hollywood. But director Song Hae-sung’s version fails to achieve the transcendent quality that makes a silly action movie something more. There is lots of cool posing, but the well-toned but tone-deaf cast is just going through the motions. It’s all the more of a pity to see that Woo was an executive producer on this film. Get Woo’s 1986 original on video instead.
Gnomes and Trolls
The first part of what has become yet another fantasy franchise. Released in 2008, Gnomes and Trolls has scored sufficient success to warrant a sequel, which opened in Europe earlier this year, but is yet to make it to these shores. The first production from the recently established White Shark Film, subtitled “The Secret Chamber,” Gnomes and Trolls has a sufficiently interesting story to make up for its relatively low budget. A young gnome wants to transgress the limits set by his people to explore wider and more dangerous horizons. Gnomes and Trolls has garnered positive audience reviews but failed to achieve much critical attention. This new take on a familiar theme might appeal to younger audience members.
My Soul to Take 3D
Although directed by Wes Craven, creator of the Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream films, My Soul to Take 3D has little of the energy and spark that we expect from such a master of horror. A serial killer comes to a small town to stalk seven children whose birthdays fall on the same day he died. Conversion to 3D adds little visual interest and seems to have been done to make this second-rate offering more appealing.
Pool
A thoughtful film by Japanese writer/director Mika Omori, Pool follows the moods rather than the actions of five people staying at a guesthouse in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. A young Japanese girl goes to Thailand to visit her mother, and hopes during the stay to understand why her mother left Japan to make a living in this unfamiliar country. She learns to appreciate the beauty and calm of the new life her mother has made, and makes the acquaintance of some unusual locals who pull the story in a mystical direction.
Last week saw the appearance of another odious screed full of lies from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian (肖千), in the Financial Review, a major Australian paper. Xiao’s piece was presented without challenge or caveat. His “Seven truths on why Taiwan always will be China’s” presented a “greatest hits” of the litany of PRC falsehoods. This includes: Taiwan’s indigenous peoples were descended from the people of China 30,000 years ago; a “Chinese” imperial government administrated Taiwan in the 14th century; Koxinga, also known as Cheng Cheng-kung (鄭成功), “recovered” Taiwan for China; the Qing owned
In Taiwan’s politics the party chair is an extremely influential position. Typically this person is the presumed presidential candidate or serving president. In the last presidential election, two of the three candidates were also leaders of their party. Only one party chair race had been planned for this year, but with the Jan. 1 resignation by the currently indicted Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) two parties are now in play. If a challenger to acting Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) appears we will examine that race in more depth. Currently their election is set for Feb. 15. EXTREMELY
Jan. 20 to Jan. 26 Taipei was in a jubilant, patriotic mood on the morning of Jan. 25, 1954. Flags hung outside shops and residences, people chanted anti-communist slogans and rousing music blared from loudspeakers. The occasion was the arrival of about 14,000 Chinese prisoners from the Korean War, who had elected to head to Taiwan instead of being repatriated to China. The majority landed in Keelung over three days and were paraded through the capital to great fanfare. Air Force planes dropped colorful flyers, one of which read, “You’re back, you’re finally back. You finally overcame the evil communist bandits and
They increasingly own everything from access to space to how we get news on Earth and now outgoing President Joe Biden warns America’s new breed of Donald Trump-allied oligarchs could gobble up US democracy itself. Biden used his farewell speech to the nation to deliver a shockingly dark message: that a nation which has always revered its entrepreneurs may now be at their mercy. “An oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms,” Biden said. He named no names, but his targets were clear: men like Elon Musk
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