SEQALU: Formosa 1867 has been widely discussed in Taiwan in past few days, following its premiere last week. As the title implies, the television drama is set in Taiwan in 1867. SEQALU is the latest historical drama offering from PTS Taiwan depicting Taiwanese history. This follows suit from last year’s Island Nation, another big-budget work that dramatized the political history of Taiwan’s democratic transition Read More
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
2021 Hong Kong comedy All U Need is Love is likely one of the earliest films in the world to make the COVID-19 the central focus of its story. The movie features a star-studded cast of Hong Kong actors and actresses, many of which reprise their best-known roles for the film. This is due to the fact that the movie was originally intended as a collaboration between ten major Hong Kong film companies to benefit a hard-hit domestic film industry. However, All U Need is Love is an insipid affair, which says more about the film industry in Hong Kong today than anything else Read More
City of Lost Things, a CGI animated film, surprises not only because of the well-scripted, tightly knit story but also because of its inventive animation. It manages this without relying on high-budget technical wizardry, per se, but by creative use of rather basic CGI elements. It is not surprising, then, that the movie won Best Animated Film at the Golden Horse Film Festival in 2020 Read More
Hand Rolled Cigarette is a well-made film, proving something like the Hong Kong version of Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino. Although the film starts off slow, its narrative gradually builds strength over time Read More
The Soul stands out among recent Taiwanese film as an effective and well-executed commercial thriller. Though the film fails to stick the landing, with its convoluted and messy conclusion undoing some of the movie’s other merits, The Soul proves an entertaining watch—even a rather evocative one Read More
Through the lens of its intersex protagonist, “Born to Be Human” explores the harmful impacts of coerced surgeries and transition for intersex people Read More
Based on Yoko Ogawa’s popular novel, “Hotel Iris” is the latest movie that highlights Taiwan-Japan relations through the lens of love and lust Read More
My Missing Valentine surprised in 2020 when it swept the Golden Horse Awards, Taiwan’s top film awards. The movie took home not only Best Feature Film, but also Best Original Screenplay and Best Director. The film’s two leads, Liu Kuan Ting and Patty Lee, were nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress, respectively, but did not win Read More
《環保少女:格蕾塔》是一部講述關於格蕾塔·桑伯格(Greta Thunberg)身為 2018 年氣候變遷罷課運動中心人物的紀錄片。時為高中生的桑伯格,抗議政府對於氣候變遷的態度冷漠,開始每個星期五的罷課。這個簡單的抗議行動,一開始只有她一個人,慢慢得到其他學生注意,最後,這個為氣候變遷罷課的運動成為全球性的運動。桑伯格的名聲因媒體炒作,成為全球性知名人物,也因此,聯合國邀請她參與了許多關於氣候變遷的會議。 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
Swingin’ aims to be a charmful, cute, and playful story, even as it touches on contemporary social issues still debated in Taiwanese society. The short film tells the story of eleven-year-old elementary schooler Qiu Qiu, who has two gay fathers, one of which is his biological father. However, the film focuses more on Qiu Qiu’s relation with his non-biological father, Wu Jia-hao. Read More