Eden Lake
Just in time for the global economic morass comes a pitiless British horror thriller that pits a well-to-do middle-class couple on holiday against nasty kids from the local working-class community who don’t limit themselves to throwing rocks and abusive language. Distressing images of fear and brutalization on the film’s posters should keep most adults away, but for anyone into horror or British cinema, this is the pick of the week. Comparisons have been drawn with Wes Craven’s The Last House on the Left, a notoriously vicious horror milestone from 1972 that was never released in Taiwan. House’s inspiration, Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring (1960), screened here a few weeks ago, however, and that title’s similarity to Eden Lake can’t be a coincidence.
The Midnight Meat Train
Clive Barker hit his bankable peak in the late 1980s when a number of his grim horror tales were turned into films, most famously Hellraiser, which Barker also directed. The Midnight Meat Train is a short story from his Books of Blood that started it all, and stars ex-soccer star Vinnie Jones as a beefy killer prowling an American subway late at night as a photographer tries to track him down. Like Eden Lake, this film has higher ambitions and attention to style (including an excellent poster), possibly thanks to the presence of Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamura (Azumi, Versus). Also stars Brooke Shields.
Orochi – Blood
The week’s third horror outing is a more stately, elegant and restrained affair from Japan. Based on a work by horror manga specialist Kazuo Umezu, this film explores the sinister underpinnings of beauty as an actress mother takes a strange young female visitor into her home with a curse. Japanese gothic horror or baroque horror might be too crude a description, but the visuals are lush and detailed, and the satirical message of female physical decay from age 30 has resonance in Taiwan in particular. This Umezu adaptation comes courtesy of Hiroshi Takahashi, the writer responsible for the Ringu films, and horror director Norio Tsuruta.
Two-Legged Horse
Not quite horror, but close. A parable of political servitude sees a legless Afghan child from a comfortable family use a poverty-stricken child in the neighborhood as the “horse” of the title for a daily pittance. As time goes on, the brutalities mount and the “horse” ... becomes one. Robert Koehler, reviewing the film for Variety, lent the film some notoriety of his own when he wrote “anger is likely to be directed at [award-winning director Samira Makhmalbaf] herself rather than at her subject, totalitarianism. Pic will raise festival howls and walkouts, with distribs certain to consider it untouchable,” because of the apparent suffering of the actors. Aha, but not in Taiwan, Mr Koehler.
The Chaser
Not quite horror, but very close. A cop-turned-pimp searches for one of his hookers after she is tortured and left for dead by a hitherto reliable client. Problem is, everyone who is supposed to do this rescue work for a living is corrupt, incompetent or ill-willed. This is a serial killer thriller with horrific elements (and a restricted rating) from South Korea that treats the audience with keen intelligence and the establishment with utter contempt. It was a monstrous hit at home.
The Code
Morgan Freeman, who rejoins director Mimi Leder after their work together in Deep Impact, stars as an aging thief who returns from retirement for, all together now, one ... last ... heist. Antonio Banderas is his younger partner and foil who is attracted to Freeman’s goddaughter (Aussie actress Radha Mitchell) in addition to some almost priceless Faberge Eggs. The rest of the story writes itself. Also known as Thick as Thieves, this one is struggling to secure a US release date.
To Life
A troubled Mexican photographer reunites with her estranged father in Chile in this chirpy, warm drama about healing and renewal. While there, she falls in love with one of her father’s closest friends, a rabbi, who has a few problems of his own. It goes without saying that the backdrop is all gorgeous mountains, vineyards, lakes, rustic villages and quaint villagers. Spanish title: El Brindis (“The Toast”), and shot in 2006.
No Regret
Purportedly the first feature to be directed by an openly gay Korean director, this film from 2006 covers a lot of ground. A grown orphan moves to Seoul in search of work and a future but circumstances conspire against him and he ends up working at a gay bar. While there he falls in love with a smitten boss from a former workplace and their relationship blossoms. Seedy settings and intense sex scenes rarely engender happy endings, however, and in this case, as the Village Voice states, “Korean melodrama hell” and the underworld sting wait in the wings.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), and the country’s other political groups dare not offend religious groups, says Chen Lih-ming (陳立民), founder of the Taiwan Anti-Religion Alliance (台灣反宗教者聯盟). “It’s the same in other democracies, of course, but because political struggles in Taiwan are extraordinarily fierce, you’ll see candidates visiting several temples each day ahead of elections. That adds impetus to religion here,” says the retired college lecturer. In Japan’s most recent election, the Liberal Democratic Party lost many votes because of its ties to the Unification Church (“the Moonies”). Chen contrasts the progress made by anti-religion movements in
Taiwan doesn’t have a lot of railways, but its network has plenty of history. The government-owned entity that last year became the Taiwan Railway Corp (TRC) has been operating trains since 1891. During the 1895-1945 period of Japanese rule, the colonial government made huge investments in rail infrastructure. The northern port city of Keelung was connected to Kaohsiung in the south. New lines appeared in Pingtung, Yilan and the Hualien-Taitung region. Railway enthusiasts exploring Taiwan will find plenty to amuse themselves. Taipei will soon gain its second rail-themed museum. Elsewhere there’s a number of endearing branch lines and rolling-stock collections, some
Last week the State Department made several small changes to its Web information on Taiwan. First, it removed a statement saying that the US “does not support Taiwan independence.” The current statement now reads: “We oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side. We expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means, free from coercion, in a manner acceptable to the people on both sides of the Strait.” In 2022 the administration of Joe Biden also removed that verbiage, but after a month of pressure from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), reinstated it. The American
This was not supposed to be an election year. The local media is billing it as the “2025 great recall era” (2025大罷免時代) or the “2025 great recall wave” (2025大罷免潮), with many now just shortening it to “great recall.” As of this writing the number of campaigns that have submitted the requisite one percent of eligible voters signatures in legislative districts is 51 — 35 targeting Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus lawmakers and 16 targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The pan-green side has more as they started earlier. Many recall campaigns are billing themselves as “Winter Bluebirds” after the “Bluebird Action”
RSS