Taking Back the Legislature, produced by the Hong Kong Documentary Filmmakers group, is a powerful document of one of the most dramatic events of the Hong Kong protests of summer 2019 Read More
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Anima depicts the human effects of unfettered development in China, while also featuring elements of Chinese ethnic minority film. The final results are passable and the film’s technical merits are impressive, but the work does not break new ground Read More
Lianain Films’ four hour-long documentary “If We Burn” offers one of the most exhaustive retrospectives on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protest movement Read More
Although there have been several short fiction films about the 2019 Hong Kong protests, such as “Night is Young” and “Lost Pearl,” May You Stay Forever Young (少年) is perhaps the first full-length fiction film to address this tumultuous time in recent Hong Kong history. Given increasing censorship in Hong Kong, as with protest documentary Revolution of Our Times, May You Stay Forever Young could only see nationwide theatrical release in Taiwan. The film was in the running for "Best New Director" and "Best Editing" at the 58th Golden Horse Awards. Though it won neither, it did win the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema award at the Golden Horse Film Festival in 2021 Read More
bitters WEED (麻罪犯), a documentary focusing on the issue of cannabis criminalization in Taiwan, is an effective look at the issue Read More
A YouTube animation, “Life of a Mountain Road Monkey”, has become a sudden overnight hit in Taiwan. At time of writing, the animation has to close four million views–a figure suggesting that one in six Taiwanese has seen the video Read More
I Am Greta is a documentary film about climate activist Greta Thunberg, the central figure of the 2018 climate strike movement. Thunberg, a high school student, started protesting the inaction of the government in regards to climate change by skipping school and going on strike on Fridays. This simple act of rebellion, at first done only by Thunberg herself, slowly caught the attention of other students, and eventually grew into a global climate strike movement, participated by students around the world. Thunberg’s reputation was catapulted to celebrity status by the media, and as a result, she was invited to many UN climate meetings Read More
Get the Hell Out is an absurdist zombie comedy that starts out well enough Read More
Actor Kai Ko's directorial debut, Bad Education, is a capable film with many merits. Though still entertainment fare at the end of the day, much is to be praised about the movie, which like many hit Taiwanese movies in past years has a script penned by novelist Giddens Ko Read More
有時，我會隨意查看電影時刻表，好知道有哪些電影可觀賞。令我驚訝的是，一部美國邪典電影進入了台灣的電影院。《阿比阿弟尋歌大冒險》是《阿比阿弟大冒險》系列的第三部，其中第一部於 1989 年製作，第二部電影是 1991 年。電影製片人過了將近 30 年的時間製作了第三部電影《阿比阿弟尋歌大冒險》。《阿比阿弟》絕對不是什麼嚴肅電影，但在文化上還算是有其重要性的，美國偉大的導演之一亞歷山大·潘恩也可算是這部電影的影迷，因為在佩恩的電影《選舉》（Election) 中，也能找到非常類似基努·李維（阿弟）的角色。原版的《阿比阿弟》電影也被滾石(Rolling Stone）和爛番茄（Rotten Tomatoes）列為史上前十大經典「ㄍㄧㄤ片」（Stoner Film 譯注：此種片意指適合抽大麻之後看的電影）之一。有趣的是，就一部經典的ㄍㄧㄤ片電影系列來說，因為阿比阿弟角色本身並沒有抽大麻，電影也沒有顯示出任何毒品使用。但是，阿比和阿弟的角色卻是基於抽過大麻後的設定。在前兩部電影中，傻笨但善良的二人穿越時空拯救世界。而時間指導人魯弗斯（Rufus），則是最出色但已逝的美國喜劇演員喬治·卡林（George Carlin）。 Read More
The following Taiwanese animated shorts for children were reviewed as part of the “Formosa Fantastica” section of the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival in Switzerland. The film festival will be held from July 2nd to July 10th in a hybrid format, with simultaneously live-streamed events in Neuchâtel and Taipei Read More
Journey to the West is a magnificent debut for first-time director Kong Dashan. The film is not only excellently edited and shot, but also humanistic and funny; it marks Kong as someone to keep an eye on in future years Read More