No Man Is An Island -

Aesthetics and Politics in 2022 Campaigning

·November 25, 2022·4 min read

This year's election continued much of the same aesthetic tropes as previous elections. As with past years, it was the DPP that focused on aesthetics that could outreach to young people, and maintained the modernist aesthetic that has characterized pan-Green campaign advertising since the Tsai administration took power. While the KMT has significantly modernized its aesthetic in recent years, it is still the DPP that proved the more experimental in election advertising Read More

Murder, Corruption, and Plagiarism: An Election Cycle Characterized by Scandal

English Life

·November 23, 2022·4 min read

The present election cycle has been, if nothing else, characterized by a great degree of political scandal. Indeed, as a consequence, many races have boiled down to the personalities running for office, rather than their policies. To this extent, both DPP and KMT have sought to leverage on the scandals of the other camp Read More

Who Are This Year’s Fringe Candidates in the Taipei Mayoral Race?

English Life

·November 18, 2022·2 min read

The Taipei mayoral race saw twelve candidates this year. The three serious candidates are, of course, Chen Shih-chung of the DPP, Chiang Wan-an of the KMT, and Vivian Huang of the TPP. It remains unclear as to which of them may win, with a tight three-way race anticipated. At the same time, as the nation’s capital, Taipei often attracts a number of fringe mayoral candidates. This was no different this year, with the views of these candidates on display at the four-hour policy platform held by the Central Election Commission, in which all of the candidates were given thirty minutes to express their views Read More

“Therapy Dogs” Offers a Cleverly Stylized Depiction of High School

English Film

·November 16, 2022·3 min read

Therapy Dogs is a creatively stylized take on high school, following two friends in their senior year. Though the film is unlikely to appeal to all viewers, given its deliberately disjointed narrative, it manages to capture something of the nihilism–and violence–of wayward teenagers Read More

“100 Ways to See Transgender” Exhibition Shares a Wide Range of Transgender Experiences

English Events Life

·November 11, 2022·6 min read

This past weekend, over 200 participants came to see the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights’ (TAPCPR) "看見跨性別藝文展 100 Ways to See Transgender" exhibition at 二空間 SPACE TWO. Since their first Transgender Film Festival in 2020, TAPCPR has made it a tradition to do larger scale public engagement programming around transgender issues every year in the month of November. Last year was the second Transgender Film Festival, and this year is the 100 Ways to See Transgender exhibition Read More

Japanese Film “by the window” Meditates on Love And Creativity in a Naturalistic Fashion

English Film

·November 8, 2022·2 min read

by the window, directed by Rikiya Imaizumi, proves masterful. The film does not shy away from tackling complex issues, such as the nature of love or creativity, and approaches them in a wonderfully naturalistic fashion Read More

“Mountain Woman” Depicts Human Cruelty and Desperation in a Japanese Village

English Film

·November 4, 2022·2 min read

With its story about an outcast family, “Mountain Woman” explores humanity’s darkness against a beautiful backdrop of Japan’s countryside Read More

“Dealing With Dad” Aims for Asian American Family Drama but Has Mixed Results

English Film

·November 1, 2022·3 min read

Dealing With Dad has all the makings of a solid comedy about an Asian American family. Nevertheless, the film simply fails to come to life somehow. Maybe it’s because the entire movie feels tonally off-key. Perhaps it has to do with its near-complete lack of soundtrack, an odd choice outside of the art house genre . Or, it may have to do with how few of the movie’s jokes hit the mark Read More

“Tank Fairy” Proves A Spunky Queer Take on a Fixture of Taiwanese Life

English Film

·October 28, 2022·2 min read

Tank Fairy is a spunky queer take on a traditional fixture of Taiwanese urban life–the deliveryperson, invariably middle-aged and male, that brings canisters of gas that apartments use to boil hot water for cooking and showering Read More

“Dear Corky” Pays Tribute to a Beloved Photographer of Chinatown

English Film

·October 25, 2022·2 min read

“Dear Corky” is a tribute to the photographer Corky Lee, who spent decades documenting Asian American life, and died in 2021 from COVID-19. The short documentary film was assembled from footage shot of Lee before his death, though this may not have been with the aim of creating a documentary about Lee at first Read More

Searching for the Bird of Myth: A Review of Enigma: The Chinese Crested Tern (尋找神話之鳥)

English Film

·October 21, 2022·3 min read

Enigma: The Chinese Crested Tern, directed by Taiwanese environmentalist filmmaker Liang Chieh-Te, is a masterful depiction of the eponymous endangered species. The film goes a long way in showing not only the beauty of the creature and providing many revealing looks into its life, but also the Herculean efforts of an international team of conservationists and researchers to protect a species that may have less than one hundred remaining individuals Read More

看電影關心籠鍊犬—枷/家影評

Chinese Film

·October 19, 2022·1 min read

《枷/家》是導演與動物平權促進會聯合製作的短紀錄片，是部為了告知公眾籠鍊犬議題、為具體的提倡目的而製的影片。籠鍊犬是長期被鍊養的狗，他們很少有每日走動的機會，或是得到最低標準的適當對待。本片不會在平常的電影院、電視節目，或是網路平台播放，而是在動平會舉辦在部落和學校的活動中播出。 Read More