Bandslam
Good notices for this movie about a bunch of kids who enter a high school rock band competition were not enough to make money in the US. Some blamed poor marketing, but whatever the case, here is a show with attractive young folks who make the most of their differences and pull off something special. Shares a star with High School Musical, but don’t let that make you reach for the cable guide. Aimed at youngsters, but informed by a love of rock music new and old, Bandslam is sure to grow on audiences.
The Milk of Sorrow
A Spanish-Peruvian co-production, this is a strange slice of contemporary neurosis and historical burden in present-day Lima. A dying woman sings of her molestation by terrorists, and after she departs her traumatized daughter is found to have lodged a potato in her private parts to protect her chastity. Later, the daughter works her way back into the world — courtesy of new friendships and a beautiful singing voice. The title refers to the breast milk of a persecuted mother that by legend harms a daughter’s psychological well-being; the original Spanish title, La Teta Asustada (“the frightened breast”), is rather more direct. The film won several festival awards, including the Golden Bear.
First Snow
If you crave a mixture of squeaky-clean inter-ethnic teen romance and family drama, there’s no beating First Snow (also known as, ahem, Virgin Snow). Korean immigrant Lee Jun-ki bumps into incredibly sweet Aoi Miyazaki a couple of times and they fall in love. The real drama of the flick comes from the latter’s wretched home life, which leads to the question: Why do aberrant movie families always produce daughters who are as pure as the driven snow? Set in Kyoto, which doesn’t hurt.
Overheard (竊聽風雲)
Infernal Affairs (無間道) co-writer-director Alan Mak (麥兆輝) and co-writer Felix Chong (莊文強) return with another tale of crime and compromise. Stalwart leading man Sean Lau (劉青雲) joins Louis Koo (古天樂) and Daniel Wu (吳彥祖) as intel agents who cross to the dark side, but their plan to make a quick profit leads to a nightmare of cover-ups and murder. This flick is notable for securing a release in China without having its ethical gray zone excised. More importantly, the public and critical response in Hong Kong was very positive. Koo also stars in the other, much more lowbrow Hong Kong release of the week, namely ...
On His Majesty’s Secret Service (大內密探靈靈狗)
The Chinese title suggests a follow-up to the 1996 Hong Kong costume court comedy Forbidden City Cop (大內密探零零發, retitled 鹿鼎大帝 for its Taiwan release) featuring superstar Steven Chow (周星馳) at the beginning of his directorial career and the delightful Carina Lau (劉嘉玲). Sadly, critics said this Wong Jing (王晶) production lacks star power and momentum and could do with more technical smarts. Louis Koo is an imperial guard who gets caught up in a competition to marry off the emperor’s daughter; farce follows. For the faithful there are movie references, anachronistic and gay panic gags, silly stunts and clunky props. The cast includes Taiwan’s Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛, better known as 大S) in the Carina Lau role.
The Code
A Japanese nightclub singer in Shanghai has a tattoo that contains the code to a stash of treasure left behind by the Japanese during the war, and the heroic Detective Office 5 and its debonair staff must recover the treasure, led by enterprising Detective 507 (Kikunosuke Onoe, Kaidan). Handsome to watch, but Variety moaned about unnecessary complexity and sobriety, while IMDb lists no less than seven directors.
Last month historian Stephen Wertheim of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace published an opinion piece in the New York Times with suggestions for an “America First” foreign policy for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Of course China and Taiwan received a mention. “Under presidents Trump and Biden,” Wertheim contends, “the world’s top two powers have descended into open rivalry, with tensions over Taiwan coming to the fore.” After complaining that Washington is militarizing the Taiwan issue, he argues that “In truth, Beijing has long proved willing to tolerate the island’s self-rule so long as Taiwan does not declare independence
Big changes are afoot in global politics, which that are having a big impact on the global order, look set to continue and have the potential to completely reshape it. In my previous column we examined the three macro megatrends impacting the entire planet: Technology, demographics and climate. Below are international trends that are social, political, geopolitical and economic. While there will be some impact on Taiwan from all four, it is likely the first two will be minor, but the second two will likely change the course of Taiwan’s history. The re-election of Donald Trump as president of the US
Nov. 25 to Dec. 1 The Dutch had a choice: join the indigenous Siraya of Sinkan Village (in today’s Tainan) on a headhunting mission or risk losing them as believers. Missionaries George Candidus and Robert Junius relayed their request to the Dutch governor, emphasizing that if they aided the Sinkan, the news would spread and more local inhabitants would be willing to embrace Christianity. Led by Nicolaes Couckebacker, chief factor of the trading post in Formosa, the party set out in December 1630 south toward the Makatao village of Tampsui (by today’s Gaoping River in Pingtung County), whose warriors had taken the
The Mountains to Sea National Greenway (山海圳國家綠道) draws its name from the idea that each hiker starting at the summit of Jade Mountain (玉山) and following the trail to the coast is like a single raindrop. Together, many raindrops form life and prosperity-bringing waterways. Replicating a raindrop’s journey holds poetic beauty, but all hikers know that climbing is infinitely more appealing, and so this installment picks up where the last one left off — heading inland and uphill along the 49.8-kilometer Canal Trail (大圳之路) — second of the Greenway’s four sections. A detailed map of the trail can be found
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