Featuring pop idol Ella Chen (陳嘉樺) as a betel nut beauty (檳榔西施) falling for a younger man, The Missing Piece (缺角一族) is fortunately more than the usual soap opera schlock. For his second feature, veteran TV director Chiang Fong-hung (江豐宏) produces a romantic, light-hearted comedy which balances the youthful love story with a look into the characters’ self-seeking quests. The movie boasts a finely tuned cast, comprising veteran thespian Tsai Chen-nan (蔡振南), young talent Austin Lin (林柏宏) and Chen.
At the center of the lively drama is Daofeng (Lin), a bashful college student who breaks from his humdrum city life and plans to hitchhike to a tropical town called Sunshine Village.
Along his trek, Daofeng meets Shasha (Chen), a jovial betel nut girl who wears flamboyant costumes in her transparent booth surrounded by vast, sun-baked grassland.
Photo courtesy of Three Giant Production
Another daily commuter is Uncle Tin Can (Tsai), who lives alone in a big house by the sea and spends his time recycling abandoned things. Uncle Tin Can and Daofeng become friends. Yet another encounter brings Daofeng to local villager Auntie Haichu (played by Lin Mei-chao, 林美照), who likes to eat her lunchbox in front of a tall chimney of a defunct sugar factory.
Daofeng’s new friends make him feel right at home. But the more he comes to know them, the more he realizes that underneath their blithe appearances, they are hurt and lost inside, longing for reconciliation with themselves and others. Meanwhile, Daofeng’s affection toward Shasha gradually grows.
Despite a fair amount of narrative untidiness, Chiang’s second feature is a feel-good movie that strikes a chord with the audience through universal themes of love, regret and reconciliation. Known for his life-long collaboration with film maestro Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮), cinematographer Liao Pen-jung (廖本榕) injects buoyant exuberance. Bathed in vibrant hues, even the roadside betel-nut stand brings to mind a quaint cottage from a fairy tale.
Chiang’s decades-long career as a TV drama director gives him a keen eye for choosing the right actor for the role. Lin and Chen complement each other well as a couple with contrasting personalities. But the most noticeable performance is delivered by Tsai who effortlessly brings to life the many facets of his character, swinging from idiosyncrasy to graciousness.
From censoring “poisonous books” to banning “poisonous languages,” the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) tried hard to stamp out anything that might conflict with its agenda during its almost 40 years of martial law. To mark 228 Peace Memorial Day, which commemorates the anti-government uprising in 1947, which was violently suppressed, I visited two exhibitions detailing censorship in Taiwan: “Silenced Pages” (禁書時代) at the National 228 Memorial Museum and “Mandarin Monopoly?!” (請說國語) at the National Human Rights Museum. In both cases, the authorities framed their targets as “evils that would threaten social mores, national stability and their anti-communist cause, justifying their actions
There is a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) plot to put millions at the mercy of the CCP using just released AI technology. This isn’t being overly dramatic. The speed at which AI is improving is exponential as AI improves itself, and we are unprepared for this because we have never experienced anything like this before. For example, a few months ago music videos made on home computers began appearing with AI-generated people and scenes in them that were pretty impressive, but the people would sprout extra arms and fingers, food would inexplicably fly off plates into mouths and text on
On the final approach to Lanshan Workstation (嵐山工作站), logging trains crossed one last gully over a dramatic double bridge, taking the left line to enter the locomotive shed or the right line to continue straight through, heading deeper into the Central Mountains. Today, hikers have to scramble down a steep slope into this gully and pass underneath the rails, still hanging eerily in the air even after the bridge’s supports collapsed long ago. It is the final — but not the most dangerous — challenge of a tough two-day hike in. Back when logging was still underway, it was a quick,
US President Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs on semiconductor chips has complicated Taiwan’s bid to remain a global powerhouse in the critical sector and stay onside with key backer Washington, analysts said. Since taking office last month, Trump has warned of sweeping tariffs against some of his country’s biggest trade partners to push companies to shift manufacturing to the US and reduce its huge trade deficit. The latest levies announced last week include a 25 percent, or higher, tax on imported chips, which are used in everything from smartphones to missiles. Taiwan produces more than half of the world’s chips and nearly all
RSS