Leaving Gracefully (帶一片風景走)
Renowned Taiwanese entertainer and television host Peng Chia-chia (澎恰恰), real name Peng Chang-tsan (彭樟燦), makes a foray into filmmaking with Leaving Gracefully, a family drama inspired by a true story. In the film a husband keeps his promise to go on a cross-island walk with his sick wife, who afterwards dies from spinocerebellar ataxia, a genetic degenerative disease. Weighted down by wooden dialogue and stiff performances, Leaving Gracefully shows that Peng’s scriptwriting and directing skills have room for improvement. His directorial debut is, however, not without merit. Rene Hou (侯怡君), who plays the wife, proves that a Taiwanese soap opera actress is also capable of serious acting, Chou I-wen’s (周以文) sumptuous cinematography is simply a feast for the eyes, and Peng, 56, earns kudos as songwriter of the film’s catchy tunes.
The Green Lantern
More big-budget superhero action from the hand of Martin Campbell, a veteran action director who’s worked on such great TV mini-series projects as Minder, Reilly: Ace of Spies and Edge of Darkness, before creating what is arguably the best Bond film: Casino Royale. The good-looking leads, Ryan Reynolds (Green Lantern) and Blake Lively (Carol Ferris), are backed up by a solid supporting cast that includes Peter Sarsgaard and Mark Strong. The Green Lantern story is based on a DC Comics property that dates back to the early 1940s and the numerous clips that have been released to drum up publicity suggest a rather heavy moral tone, but the special effects and graphics look like they will certainly be worth looking at on the big screen.
Altitude
An uneven, low-budget excursion by first-time director and established comic book artist Kaare Andrews, Altitude takes as its point of departure a short story by horror/fantasy pioneer H.P. Lovecraft and turns it into a cliched, sloppy and pointless exercise in bitchiness. A flaccid script that has four people snipping at each other while the small aircraft they are in is caught in the grasp of a mysterious supernatural force is an unedifying lesson in padding out an idea that might have been great for a 30-minute episode of The Twilight Zone, but at nearly 100 minutes, sinks like a lead balloon.
Amazon Forever
A film written and directed by Jean-Pierre Dutilleux that was released in 2004 and which has avoided virtually any mainstream interest. It is the story of a French filmmaker who goes into the Amazon forest, falls in love with the daughter of a local chief, films the destruction of the forest by Portuguese loggers and tries to raise awareness about the plight of the rain forest and the people who live there. The film is notable for its portrayal of authentic daily life among the Indians in the forest, with many roles taken by local tribespeople.
A Beautiful Life (不再讓你孤單)
A deeply flawed film by brilliant director Andrew Lau (劉偉強), saved by top-notch performances by leads Shu Qi (舒淇) and Liu Ye (劉燁). Though they have had uneven careers, Lau elicits a deep emotional resonance from Shu, who plays a flirtatious gold digger from Hong Kong who falls for Zhendong, a principled and lonely policeman in Beijing. The first part of the film is a well-observed romantic drama, but when Zhendong contracts a fatal illness, the whole thing spirals into a manipulative tearjerker.
Robo-Geisha
Some serious madness in a kind of schlock slapstick of a movie by Iguchi Noboru, director of The Machine Girl. He has teamed up with cult director Nishimura Yoshihiro, the creator of Tokyo Gore Police and Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl, and has a slew of super sexy girls in outfits that change from demure kimono to sadomasochist leather, chopping up clients with chain saws or engaging in ninja-style battles (while wearing school girl uniforms) with rivals. The silliness defies description, but if this is your cup of tea, Robo-Geisha will not disappoint.
Runway Beat
More rock ’n’ roll, pseudo-rebellious anime-inspired romance from Kentaro Ohtani, who made the hugely popular Nana films. Once again Ohtani visits the world of high school students who want out from the drab tedium of class, and in Runway Beat they find it in the world of teenage fashion. Obviously many difficulties have to be overcome, and there are conflicts between love and friendship, but it all wraps up with a bitchin’ power anthem and hugs all round. Music by the Funky Monkey Babys.
Were the World Mine
A lighthearted high-school fantasy that could be seen as the gay world’s response to the High School Musical franchise. Timothy (Tanner Cohen), a persecuted gay student at a private boys’ school outside Chicago, somehow gets hold of an actual love potion while rehearsing for his role as Puck in the school production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He starts using it on many of the often homophobic members of his community, with comic results. There are some good songs, and a playfulness that lifts this film out of a strict gay interest niche.
Cheng Ching-hsiang (鄭青祥) turned a small triangle of concrete jammed between two old shops into a cool little bar called 9dimension. In front of the shop, a steampunk-like structure was welded by himself to serve as a booth where he prepares cocktails. “Yancheng used to be just old people,” he says, “but now young people are coming and creating the New Yancheng.” Around the corner, Yu Hsiu-jao (饒毓琇), opened Tiny Cafe. True to its name, it is the size of a cupboard and serves cold-brewed coffee. “Small shops are so special and have personality,” she says, “people come to Yancheng to find such treasures.” She
Late last month Philippines Foreign Affairs Secretary Theresa Lazaro told the Philippine Senate that the nation has sufficient funds to evacuate the nearly 170,000 Filipino residents in Taiwan, 84 percent of whom are migrant workers, in the event of war. Agencies have been exploring evacuation scenarios since early this year, she said. She also observed that since the Philippines has only limited ships, the government is consulting security agencies for alternatives. Filipinos are a distant third in overall migrant worker population. Indonesia has over 248,000 workers, followed by roughly 240,000 Vietnamese. It should be noted that there are another 170,000
Hannah Liao (廖宸萱) recalls the harassment she experienced on dating apps, an experience that left her frightened and disgusted. “I’ve tried some voice-based dating apps,” the 30-year-old says. “Right away, some guys would say things like, ‘Wanna talk dirty?’ or ‘Wanna suck my d**k?’” she says. Liao’s story is not unique. Ministry of Health and Welfare statistics show a more than 50 percent rise in sexual assault cases related to online encounters over the past five years. In 2023 alone, women comprised 7,698 of the 9,413 reported victims. Faced with a dating landscape that can feel more predatory than promising, many in
Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu’s (洪秀柱) attendance at the Chinese Communist Party’s (CPP) “Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War” parade in Beijing is infuriating, embarrassing and insulting to nearly everyone in Taiwan, and Taiwan’s friends and allies. She is also ripping off bandages and pouring salt into old wounds. In the process she managed to tie both the KMT and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) into uncomfortable knots. The KMT continues to honor their heroic fighters, who defended China against the invading Japanese Empire, which inflicted unimaginable horrors on the
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