Life for Sale is an ambitious work. While imperfect, the film is bold, and those willing to indulge some of its more visible flaws may find the journey rewarding Read More
Film
A to Z
Light of the Setting Sun is a capable, elegiac work examining filmmaker Vicky Du’s family. Du focuses on the history of silences in the family, silences she ultimately traces back to the trauma of displacement after the Chinese Civil War Read More
Marry My Dead Body is an entertaining and capably executed, if a bit breezy, buddy cop comedy with LGBTQ themes. The outlandish premise–featuring a straight, initially homophobic police officer whose attitudes gradually change through interactions with a gay ghost that he becomes haunted by–certainly proves memorable Read More
With its story about an outcast family, “Mountain Woman” explores humanity’s darkness against a beautiful backdrop of Japan’s countryside Read More
Pigsy is an inventive, CGI-animated take on Journey to the West. The movie is set in a futuristic city-state in which a technologically advanced “New World” development scheme is soon to be launched, and which selects those who contribute the most to society to become its residents. Protagonist Pigsy works for the developer of the “New World” but is not selected himself Read More
Though problematic in some regards, Port of Lies is an attempt to grapple with some of the pressing racial issues of Taiwanese society Read More
The PTS documentary Strangers and Their Babies is director Asio Liu’s latest look at unexplored periods in Taiwan’s history that link it to Southeast Asia Read More
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
The Accidental Politician follows ten years in the life of Sunflower activist turned politician, Liao Yu-hsien. While the documentary also depicts in parallel Kuo Lin-han or “Melon,” a fellow activist who also enters electoral politics, it still mainly focuses on Liao. The Accidental Politician joins the ranks of other documentaries that depict the life and times of Sunflower Movement activists, then, whether that be Our Youth in Taiwan or The Edge of Night Read More
Despite garnering a number of awards and otherwise being a capably executed film, The Pig, the Snake, and the Pigeon ultimately proves an uneven work. This is primarily because of the movie’s failure to develop compelling characters or a cohesive narrative. Read More
The Post-Truth World is an intriguing, if somewhat narratively flawed read on the nature of news, virality, and truth. The crime drama follows Liu Li-min, an online media personality, who inadvertently becomes caught up in the series of events around the apparent murder of rich heiress Wang Shih-yun by high school sports star Chang Chen-yi. Liu is first present at the baseball game where Chang apparently murders Chang by stabbing her to death. Then, seven years later, Liu is taken hostage by Chang during a jailbreak after visiting the prison where he is imprisoned to interview another inmate Read More
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