Joe Lee (李運傑) packs plenty into his latest film, Gatao, a gangster drama that features plenty of bloodshed, turf wars, romance and familial bonding.
Unfortunately none of these tropes click.
Despite superior production values and a handsome cast led by Alien Huang (黃鴻升) and Sunny Wang (王陽明), the film fails to depict the fascinating world of gatao — Taiwan’s criminal world — and instead devolves into soap-opera frippery filled with narrative loopholes and false emotions.
Photo courtesy of Winday
In the beginning of Gatao, gang life involves street fights with sticks and knives, but everyone is under the control of Boss Yong (Tsai Chen-nan, 蔡振南). To Xiong (Huang), who is arrested during a turf battle, serving time for the gang is proof of brotherhood. Upon his release from prison, Xiong is immediately promoted by Boss Yong to oversee a traditional market where he grew up.
At first, life at the market is good. Xiong knows everyone and takes up the responsibility to look after the shopkeepers. He also strikes up a romance with childhood friend Lei Lei (Christina Mok, 莫允雯). Meanwhile, Xiong’s popularity grows, becoming a threat to Yong’s right-hand man Qing Feng (Sun Peng, 孫鵬),who has a crush on Lei Lei, and believes he is next in line to head the gang.
Things quickly deteriorate when Michael (Wang), the US-educated son of the late rival-gang leader, returns to claim his throne. Depicted as crude and money-driven, the entrepreneurial Michael sees himself as a property developer and has set his mind on what he views as a profitable urban renewal project. But Michael’s plan involves tearing down the market.
Photo courtesy of Winday
Conflicts and bloodletting soon ensue. Torn between his responsibility to the gang and his love for the grandmother who raised him and Lei Lei, Xiong now must make difficult choices that eventually lead to betrayal and murder.
The film’s promising examination of traditional values and runaway capitalism largely goes astray. The motives and struggles of the characters are written and performed, but never felt and conveyed. Throughout the over 100-minute long screening time, there is a constant bombardment of melodramatic cliches and genre gimmickry, leading to nothing more than lame mimicry.
One thing worth mentioning is the film’s lush cinematography that graciously captures a familiar side of Taiwanese life, ranging from fluorescent-lit, crowded interiors to the messy, bustling night markets.
Photo courtesy of Winday
Taiwan’s English education system is being pulled apart by three opposing forces. Bilingual Nation 2030 pulls students toward English and global communication. Artificial Intelligence (AI) readiness pulls them toward digital judgment, verification and AI-mediated work. But Taiwan’s old exam culture pulls them back toward memorization, grammar drills, timed reading and correct answers. If the education system keeps using old exams to define success, it risks producing graduates who are neither genuinely bilingual nor genuinely AI-ready, but trained for tasks machines can already perform. The first force is Bilingual Nation 2030. Launched in 2018, the policy aimed to “help Taiwan’s workforce connect
It seems every few days one bumps into one of those “real man” comments in which Taiwan is urged to “face reality” or similar, and “make a deal,” with the speaker implying that soon it will be too late. “Deal” advocates always present themselves as having a superior grip on reality, and the manly ability to make the “hard choice.” Their testosterone-laden language often echoes that of Taiwan sellout advocates. Note that such commentary always specifies a process (“make a deal, work with, make progress”), never the end state of what occupation by a violent authoritarian colonialist state will entail. In
There are shadowy cabals plotting to sell out Taiwan to be annexed by China, by invasion if necessary. Fortunately, they are buffoons. In 2019, former Bamboo Union gangster and founder of the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP), Chang An-le (張安樂, colorfully known as “White Wolf”), led a protest at the Legislative Yuan against comments made by then-premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) that in the event of an attack by China, he would never surrender, but would protect the nation by fighting to the end, even if he only had a broom. Chang had party members bring a wooden casket that they
June 1 to June 7 "If all Taiwanese were as afraid of dying as you, then what would happen?” Physician Shih Chiang-nan (施江南) reportedly said this to his wife Chen Chiao-tung (陳焦桐) after she urged him to stop intervening on behalf of Taiwanese soldiers stranded overseas after serving in the Japanese Army during World War II. Shih had clashed with high-ranking officials over the issue, engaged in several heated arguments with Taiwan governor-general Chen Yi (陳儀) and allegedly shouted at general Ko Yuan-fen (柯遠芬), chief of staff of the Taiwan Garrison Command, over
RSS