Film

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

·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

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

Calling Attention to the Plight of Chained Dogs: A Review of Jia (枷/家)

English Film

·October 14, 2022·4 min read

Jia, a short documentary film produced in association with the Taiwan Animal Equality Association, is an advocacy film made to inform the public about chained dogs. Chained dogs are dogs who are kept chained all year round, rarely with daily walks or the usual treatments that reach the minimum threshold of appropriate care Read More

Taiwan’s Founding Mothers?: Untold Herstory

English Film

·October 11, 2022·5 min read

Give us art forms that tell an honest history not a whitewashed one of so-called founding fathers. If America, for example, needs more 1619 stories than it does 1776 ones, then Taiwan needs more stories about 228 and the White Terror Read More

電影評論：舞徑

Chinese Film

·September 28, 2022·1 min read

紀錄片《舞徑》由導演楊偉新以九年時間拍攝與剪接而成，也自掏腰包花了兩百萬製片，並且以民眾小額捐款的方式籌得五十萬元以在院線上映。此片雖為導演的第一部電影，但對議題的表現方式非常成熟，毫無新手上路的感覺。《舞徑》是一部剪接精湛，情境與題材接近《籃球夢》的紀錄片。（註：需要英文字幕的觀眾不用擔心，此片同時有中英字幕) Read More

A Look at Ballet in the Taiwanese Context: A Review of Ballet in Tandem (舞徑)

English Film

·September 23, 2022·4 min read

Over the span of nine years, documentary filmmaker, Wei Hsing Yang shot and edited Ballet in Tandem. The film is a true labor of love, with Mr. Yang spending two million NT of his own money, and fifty thousand NT from crowdfunding to receive a theatrical release. This debut film is a triumph and hardly feels like a young filmmaker’s work, as it is a film that handles the subject matter with great maturity. Read More