Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Rise of the Planet of the Apes back in 2011 was a hugely successful reboot of an old movie property, and this sequel takes the franchise to a whole new level of sophistication. The story picks up from the first movie 10 years on with the Alpha chimp Caesar (Andy Serkis) leading a community of genetically enhanced apes who inhabit a simian utopia in the erstwhile San Francisco area. Humans have effectively been removed from the scene by a global virus until the arrival of an exploratory group that enters the area. Mutual distrust leads inevitably to conflict, though Caesar’s affection for human kind creates deep rifts within the chimp community. Serkis does a splendid job bringing Caesar to life, and the power of this motion capture holds its own, or even surpasses, that of the human cast that includes Gary Oldman and Jason Clarke as the leaders of the human intruders. Dawn is fundamentally a war movie, with some really amazing combat set pieces, but it is enlivened by the emotional sympathy that the careful crafting of the ape characters generates. Female speaking roles on either side of the species divide are rudimentary, and the emotional turmoil is primarily masculine, with the themes of brotherhood, betrayal, and patriarchal responsibility at the fore.
22 Jump Street
Another big-budget sequel, this time on the comedy front, with 22 Jump Street following the non-too-competent officers Schmidt and Jenko as they are moved from the undercover operation in high school to an eerily similar operation in college. Once again they are to pose as students to roust out a drug distribution network. Inevitably, college proves to be a place of self-discovery, and the bromance between the two comes under pressure when new friendships develop. None of this is taken too seriously, but there is just enough heart to give the gags a slight emotional tug. The action and the raunchiness have been upped considerably, and while not everything works in this ambitious comedy, the film is much better than it has any right to be. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are a hugely effective comic duo, and directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller let the zaniness of the script follow its own logic. 22 Jump Street doesn’t want to do anything more than entertain, and its mix of adolescent silliness, salaciousness, knowingness and energy ensures that despite the occasional misstep, there is more than enough laughs to fill its 112-minute running time.
Under the Skin
This is Scarlett Johansson stepping out from her blockbuster Natasha Romanoff persona and taking on something much more arthouse. Director Jonathan Glazer has already won a reputation for bold, unconventional movies with the likes of Birth and Sexy Beast, but with Under the Skin, he is taking on the greats of cinema, and has even earned some comparisons with Stanley Kubrick for this atmospheric, enigmatic gothic horror story about alien predators who lure humans, through the suggestion of sex, into a secret lair where their skin is harvested. One day, an emotionless alien sees her human form in a mirror and she experiences human emotions and feelings, and subsequently makes a terrible discovery. There is a lot more atmosphere than action, and the story unfolds through hints and suggestions. The overall effect has had some critics raving at Glazer’s skill, while others see little beyond a wacky avant-garde sensibility at work. It is generally agreed that Johansson owns the movie, with a strong if strange performance. You might get to the end of the movie without really knowing what you have seen, but images and ideas are inclined to linger after the credits have rolled.
As Time Goes by in Shanghai
A documentary that focuses on the Old Jazz Band which has its home at the Peace Hotel in Shanghai. Established in 1980 from veteran jazz musicians who had survived the turmoil of China’s Cultural Revolution, and with an average age of 75, the band became a public relations success story, delighting many visitors to Shanghai, including many heads of state. The old men of the band have many tales to tell, but the film is undermined by the sheer charm of the band members, who never see it as their place to be anything more than delightful raconteurs, even when touching on difficult historical times past. The film offers few insights, but fortunately, the repertoire of jazz favorites performed by these delightful old times means that this is not really missed, and they do what they have done so well for so many years: taking the focus from the real world and into a softer, cozier world of entertainment.
Dancing in Jaffa
Renowned ball-room dancer Pierre Dulaine takes his program, Dancing Classrooms, back to his city of birth, Jaffa, to teach Jewish and Palestinian Israelis to dance and compete together. The format is predictable, as the children, under the guidance of an openminded and sympathetic mentor, work their way toward a dance competition, overcoming prejudice and fear along the way. But the documentary, by director Hilla Medalia, is tackling intractable questions of mistrust, not just between young boys and girls whose conservative upbringing have given them little contact with the opposite sex, but also with the constraints of conflicting political ideologies embodied in the conflict between Islam and Judaism, and between Palestinian and Jewish racial identities. The film is probably not as deep as it thinks it is, brushing over complexities in the interests of a dubious warm cozy feel that is at odds with the harsh reality of the ongoing disputes between Palestinians and Jews, but all the same, it is hard not to feel uplifted by the transformation in the children, who find a new way of understanding themselves and each other as they learn to dance.
In the March 9 edition of the Taipei Times a piece by Ninon Godefroy ran with the headine “The quiet, gentle rhythm of Taiwan.” It started with the line “Taiwan is a small, humble place. There is no Eiffel Tower, no pyramids — no singular attraction that draws the world’s attention.” I laughed out loud at that. This was out of no disrespect for the author or the piece, which made some interesting analogies and good points about how both Din Tai Fung’s and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) meticulous attention to detail and quality are not quite up to
April 21 to April 27 Hsieh Er’s (謝娥) political fortunes were rising fast after she got out of jail and joined the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in December 1945. Not only did she hold key positions in various committees, she was elected the only woman on the Taipei City Council and headed to Nanjing in 1946 as the sole Taiwanese female representative to the National Constituent Assembly. With the support of first lady Soong May-ling (宋美齡), she started the Taipei Women’s Association and Taiwan Provincial Women’s Association, where she
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) hatched a bold plan to charge forward and seize the initiative when he held a protest in front of the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office. Though risky, because illegal, its success would help tackle at least six problems facing both himself and the KMT. What he did not see coming was Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (將萬安) tripping him up out of the gate. In spite of Chu being the most consequential and successful KMT chairman since the early 2010s — arguably saving the party from financial ruin and restoring its electoral viability —
It is one of the more remarkable facts of Taiwan history that it was never occupied or claimed by any of the numerous kingdoms of southern China — Han or otherwise — that lay just across the water from it. None of their brilliant ministers ever discovered that Taiwan was a “core interest” of the state whose annexation was “inevitable.” As Paul Kua notes in an excellent monograph laying out how the Portuguese gave Taiwan the name “Formosa,” the first Europeans to express an interest in occupying Taiwan were the Spanish. Tonio Andrade in his seminal work, How Taiwan Became Chinese,
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