The Blind Side (攻其不備)
Sandra Bullock seems to be making something of a return to form after a series of duds with this Golden Globe winner and Oscar-nominated picture (Best Picture and Best Actress in a Leading Role). It probably helps if you are a fan of American football, or at least of inspirational sports movies. The Blind Side makes a determined grab for the heartstrings, and this “based on a true story” account of a homeless boy making it to become an all-American football player sheds complexity to achieve maximum uplift. Features cameos from a number of former and current NCAA coaches.
Shutter Island (隔離島)
The all-star cast includes Leonardo DiCaprio as an improbable US marshal and the likes of Ben Kingsley and Max von Sydow providing lurking menace on an isolated island that is home to a hospital for the criminally insane. Martin Scorsese directs the action, which is full of sound and fury, but critics agree that the maestro was unable to find a balance between the psychological thriller and supernatural horror genres. In an attempt to explain this embarrassment away, Shutter Island is laden with clunky exposition and intimations of everything from Cold War shenanigans to Freudian high jinks.
Nine (華麗年代)
If Moulin Rouge wasn’t enough, Nicole Kidman is back with an all-singing, all-dancing cast that includes Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Kate Hudson and Sophia Loren in this musical inspired by Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2. Directed by Rob Marshall, who brought us Chicago, Nine by all accounts manages to look dazzling and suave, if rather chaotic, though over-elaborate editing may spoil it for dance fans, who rarely get to see complete sequences (Day-Lewis doesn’t have Richard Gere’s moves), and the song lyrics are, by general consensus, over-burdened or just plain dumb.
Good Morning President
(早安總統)
A South Korean flick that draws (tenuous) comparisons to Rob Reiner’s The American President with Michael Douglas and Annette Bening. It was the opening film at the 2009 Pusan International Film Festival and did well with Korean audiences when it premiered in October, but its focus on the country’s political culture is unlikely to cross national frontiers. Casting an amused eye over the romantic and family life of three successive presidents, director Jang Jin has created a light, fluffy confection that will likely feed Taiwan’s appetite for Korean product.
Hot Summer Days
(全城熱戀熱辣辣)
A star-studded cast ornaments this ensemble piece about relationships finding their true level as tempers and passions flare during a heat wave that engulfs Hong Kong. It strongly resembles the recently released Valentine’s Day with numerous mini-subplots coalescing into a romantic montage. It also sports a who’s who of figures from the Chinese-speaking entertainment establishment, from Taiwan’s own Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) and Rene Liu (劉若英) to Hong Kong stars Nicholas Tse (謝霆鋒) and Jacky Cheung (張學友). There are even cameos by art house director Fruit Chan (陳果) and Maggie Cheung (張曼玉). This is entertainment royalty having fun in the sun.
Little Big Soldier (大兵小將)
An engaging movie in a historical setting, the pet project of action star Jackie Chan (成龍) has reportedly been in the works for nearly two decades. Directed by Ding Sheng (丁晟) and featuring pop star Wang Lee-hom (王力宏), the flick about a cowardly soldier who takes a defeated general captive in the hope of garnering a reward produces good chemistry between Chan and his young co-star. Chan, who also has writer credits for the film, has succeeded by keeping things simple and avoiding the overblown pomp that has characterized many recent Chinese historical dramas. With minimal romance and few set-piece battles, Little Big Soldier falls into an easy buddy-flick road-movie groove that harks back to the good old days before Hollywood dreams ruined Chan’s mojo.
The Rainbow Maker
(爺爺的彩虹故事)
This story about childhood, imagination and love from Georgia was released in 2008 and has been doing the rounds of minor European film festivals ever since. Directed by Nana Djordjadze, whose 1986 success My English Grandfather picked up the Camera d’Or the following year. A whimsical comedy about a father who returns to his home after imprisonment to find his children convinced he is a spy and his wife run off with a circus strongman. He discovers that while he may not be the super spy his children believe, he does have magical powers that may help put his world right.
When a Man Comes Home (老爸靠邊站)
Danish art house comedy with the whimsical formalism of a Mozart opera by Thomas Vinterberg, one of the founding fathers of the Dogme movement. Hints of this stripped-down cinematic credo are visible in what is essentially a standard dysfunctional family (in this case a small Danish village) rom-com; its art house cred comes in the form of canny cutting between farce and chilling realism. This bold juxtaposition is also found in the cinematography, which combines hyper-real colors while maintaining a spontaneous, handheld sense of movement.
If you are a Western and especially a white foreign resident of Taiwan, you’ve undoubtedly had the experience of Taiwanese assuming you to be an English teacher. There are cultural and economic reasons for this, but one of the greatest determinants is the narrow range of work permit categories that exist for Taiwan’s foreign residents, which has in turn created an unofficial caste system for foreigners. Until recently, laowai (老外) — the Mandarin term for “foreigners,” which also implies citizenship in a rich, Western country and distinguishable from brown-skinned, southeast Asian migrant laborers, or wailao (外勞) — could only ever
Sept. 23 to Sept. 29 The construction of the Babao Irrigation Canal (八堡圳) was not going well. Large-scale irrigation structures were almost unheard of in Taiwan in 1709, but Shih Shih-pang (施世榜) was determined to divert water from the Jhuoshuei River (濁水溪) to the Changhua plain, where he owned land, to promote wet rice cultivation. According to legend, a mysterious old man only known as Mr. Lin (林先生) appeared and taught Shih how to use woven conical baskets filled with rocks called shigou (石笱) to control water diversion, as well as other techniques such as surveying terrain by observing shadows during
In recent weeks news outlets have been reporting on rising rents. Last year they hit a 27 year high. It seems only a matter of time before they become a serious political issue. Fortunately, there is a whole political party that is laser focused on this issue, the Taiwan Statebuilding Party (TSP). They could have had a seat or two in the legislature, or at least, be large enough to attract media attention to the rent issue from time to time. Unfortunately, in the last election, Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) acted as a vote sink for
This is a film about two “fools,” according to the official synopsis. But admirable ones. In his late thirties, A-jen quits his high-paying tech job and buys a plot of land in the countryside, hoping to use municipal trash to revitalize the soil that has been contaminated by decades of pesticide and chemical fertilizer use. Brother An-ho, in his 60s, on the other hand, began using organic methods to revive the dead soil on his land 30 years ago despite the ridicule of his peers, methodically picking each pest off his produce by hand without killing them out of respect