This is the type of movie that makes people hate journalists. Not only does Chang Hsiao-chuan (張孝全) effortlessly play the stereotypical dogged, slimy reporter who discards any ethical boundaries to get a story, he habitually manipulates facts to boost online views for his floundering news program.
But the grim truth for the industry, as shown in an exaggerated manner in The Post-Truth World (罪後真相) is that clicks rule the news these days, and viewers should not entirely trust the information being presented. Neither should the journalists themselves.
This biting critique of Taiwan’s increasingly sensationalist media landscape is smartly packaged as a glossy murder-mystery thriller, boosted with celebrity cameos. It’s slick and entertaining enough, but it’s the understated complexity of the main characters that makes the film thought-provoking.
Photos courtesy of Vie Vision Pictures
Despite his flaws and questionable behavior, Chang’s character, Brother Li-min, somehow still manages to come off as a sympathetic hero. He seems to want to do the right thing, especially at the behest of his late wife, who was an award-winning investigative journalist, but also faces immense pressure from his boss (who at the same time makes righteous comments about delivering fair and balanced news) to get views.
Li-min’s precocious teenage daughter Chen-chen, played with nuance by last year’s Golden Horse best newcomer Caitlin Fang (方郁婷), basically takes care of him and is often put in danger due to his recklessness. Her innocent support of her father’s endeavors drives the point of the movie home: she knows that Li-min twists the truth in his videos, but having grown up in the age of social media, perhaps that is the norm. As long as her father’s clips go viral, she’s happy, and Li-min doesn’t seem bothered by this fact.
In his desperate bid to save his program, Li-min inadvertently becomes involved with Chang Cheng-yi (Edward Chen, 陳昊森), a once-promising high school baseball player who spent seven years in prison for murdering his girlfriend. The media paints him as a cold-blooded monster, with YouTubers and other social media creators adding to the fire, leading to his condemnation despite insisting that he is innocent. Chen flaunts his acting chops, deftly portraying the formerly naive, bright-eyed young man now driven by hatred and haunted by his past.
Photo courtesy of Vie Vision Pictures
Li-min believes that Cheng-yi did not commit the murder, and he also believes that overturning the conviction will get him the one million subscribers he needs to avoid cancellation. It’s important to show viewers that the two motives are not mutually exclusive, and not everything about the industry is so black and white.
Li-min soon discovers that the case is more closely tied to people around him than he had imagined, adding to the urgency of his quest and giving it new meaning. What ensues is a pretty standard trope where he goes rogue and helps Cheng-yi, who has escaped from prison and inexplicably manages to elude the police, though he maintains a high profile.
Saying any more would spoil the rest of the film, which is thought provoking with just the right amount of suspense, twists and very few plot holes. It’s not just the media that cannot be trusted, and even what appears to be the “truth” of the case is repeatedly overturned until the very end.
Photo courtesy of Vie Vision Pictures
What happens when Li-min eventually solves the mystery, only to realize that revealing it may do more harm than good? For a movie of this genre, the questions posed are surprisingly complex.
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not
This Qing Dynasty trail takes hikers from renowned hot springs in the East Rift Valley, up to the top of the Coastal Mountain Range, and down to the Pacific Short vacations to eastern Taiwan often require choosing between the Rift Valley with its pineapple fields, rice paddies and broader range of amenities, or the less populated coastal route for its ocean scenery. For those who can’t decide, why not try both? The Antong Traversing Trail (安通越嶺道) provides just such an opportunity. Built 149 years ago, the trail linked up these two formerly isolated parts of the island by crossing over the Coastal Mountain Range. After decades of serving as a convenient path for local Amis, Han settlers, missionaries and smugglers, the trail fell into disuse once modern roadways were built