Billed as an action-loaded gangster flick, Niu Chen-zer’s (鈕承澤) Monga (艋舺) stars some of Taiwan’s brightest young things, including Ethan Ruan (阮經天) and Mark Chao (趙又廷).
With a stellar cast and entertaining storyline that weaves together action and drama, the film should do well with younger audience members who like to view the underworld through rose-tinted glasses.
Set in 1980s Bangka, otherwise known as Manka, an old Taipei borough that is now part of the city’s Wanhua District (萬華), the movie opens with transfer student Mosquito (Chao) doing battle with school bullies. The following day, a high school gang comprised of Hoklo-speakers approaches Mosquito and recruits him.
Zhilong (Rhydian Vaughan), whose father Geta (Ma Ru-long) is a well-respected underworld kingpin, leads the gang of five. Fellow gang member Monk (Ruan), however, is the most ruthless. Together they skip class and spend their days getting into street fights, going clubbing and wooing girls.
With their carefree innocence, the gang members seem invincible, until one night a spot of street justice accidentally leads to murder.
Meanwhile, a gang of Mainlanders from another area attempts to muscle in on the action in Bangka by befriending Wenqian (Jason Wang, 王識賢) a member of a rival gang. The outsiders conspire to take out Bangka’s gang bosses, including Zhilong’s father, and approach Monk to undertake the slayings, who obliges.
Mosquito uncovers Monk’s betrayal, and the scene is set for a bloody showdown.
Niu said he wanted to craft a uniquely Taiwanese gangster flick. Visually, the director has achieved his goal as the characters in the film look like archetypal taike (台客) with their floral print shirts, bell-bottoms and flip-flops.
The movie’s romanticism is palpable — it is more a paean to times gone than a pure gangster flick. Friendship, the innocence of youth and loyalty take precedence over scheming and plotting, and the violence is rendered lyrically rather than realistically. The opening street fight, which involves more than 100 extras, is played out like a ballet set against the score composed by Sandee Chen (陳珊妮).
Unlike Niu’s semi-autobiographical feature debut What On Earth Have I Done Wrong?! (情非得已之生存之道), Monga’s scale and structure require storytelling skills that the director has yet to master. The narrative is uneven and frequently plagued with dull dialogue. Tensions mostly dissolve as the characters’ conflicting emotions come across as more constructed than heartfelt.
One exception is Monk, who is secretly in love with Zhilong, played by British-Taiwanese actor Vaughan. Ruan injects his role with layers of emotion that elicit sympathy for a man torn between love and revenge.
Feb. 17 to Feb. 23 “Japanese city is bombed,” screamed the banner in bold capital letters spanning the front page of the US daily New Castle News on Feb. 24, 1938. This was big news across the globe, as Japan had not been bombarded since Western forces attacked Shimonoseki in 1864. “Numerous Japanese citizens were killed and injured today when eight Chinese planes bombed Taihoku, capital of Formosa, and other nearby cities in the first Chinese air raid anywhere in the Japanese empire,” the subhead clarified. The target was the Matsuyama Airfield (today’s Songshan Airport in Taipei), which
On Jan. 17, Beijing announced that it would allow residents of Shanghai and Fujian Province to visit Taiwan. The two sides are still working out the details. President William Lai (賴清德) has been promoting cross-strait tourism, perhaps to soften the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) attitudes, perhaps as a sop to international and local opinion leaders. Likely the latter, since many observers understand that the twin drivers of cross-strait tourism — the belief that Chinese tourists will bring money into Taiwan, and the belief that tourism will create better relations — are both false. CHINESE TOURISM PIPE DREAM Back in July
Could Taiwan’s democracy be at risk? There is a lot of apocalyptic commentary right now suggesting that this is the case, but it is always a conspiracy by the other guys — our side is firmly on the side of protecting democracy and always has been, unlike them! The situation is nowhere near that bleak — yet. The concern is that the power struggle between the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and their now effectively pan-blue allies the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) intensifies to the point where democratic functions start to break down. Both
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