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“Pigsy” is a Fun, Animated Take on “Journey to the West”

·September 16, 2025·2 min read

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

Diasporic Loss and Foreign Gods

English Film

·May 14, 2021·3 min read

The short film, “Kuroshio Current,” aims to tell a story of diasporic loss framed by traditional Taiwanese folk religion 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

“Dead Talents Society” is a Humorous Send-Up of Taiwanese Influencer Culture

English Film

·September 2, 2024·2 min read

Detention director John Hsu’s latest film, Dead Talents Society, is a capable and humorous if unremarkable work. Hsu’s aim seems to steer away from Detention’s serious subject matter, seeing as it is set during the White Terror, while maintaining the horror frame. But even if the film has mixed results, Hsu at least proves that he is equally adept at comedy Read More

“Marry My Dead Body” Proves A Well-Intended and Capably Shot if Problematic LGBTQ Crime Caper

English Film

·March 11, 2023·4 min read

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

“Bad Education” Proves A Capable Directorial Debut for Kai Ko

English Film

·April 3, 2023·3 min read

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

Even Death Is No Escape From Capitalism

English Film

·November 30, 2021·3 min read

Fruit Chan's Coffin Homes (鬼同你住) is unlikely to find success on the international film festival circuit. For one, the film is likely to be billed as a comedy horror, though it is more accurate to locate the film in the mo lei tau style of Hong Kong slapstick Read More

“Daughter’s Daughter” Tugs at Heartstrings with Mother-Daughter Dynamics

English Film

·July 8, 2025·2 min read

Starring veteran actress Sylvia Chang, “Daughter’s Daughter” tells an intergenerational female tale that gets bogged down with melodrama Read More

Lou Ye’s “An Unfinished Film” Is a Heartfelt Farewell to Sixth-Generation Cinema, The Hopes of an Era

English Film

·February 15, 2025·2 min read

Lou Ye's An Unfinished Film is a gripping look at the lockdown in Wuhan, China, focusing on the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the movie is more than that. Rather, the film proves something of a farewell to sixth-generation Chinese cinema and the era of optimism that, in many ways, sixth-generation Chinese cinema reflected Read More

“The Funeral” Tries Mixing Family With Thrills and Horror

English Film

·September 14, 2022·3 min read

Taiwanese horror-thriller film “The Funeral'' is more fittingly enjoyed as a family drama with scary elements Read More

電影評論：天能

Chinese Film

·December 17, 2020·1 min read

在尼科洛·馬基雅維里的《君主論》(Niccolo Machiavelli‘s The Prince)中，他用一個比喻來形容君主應該如何看待政治局勢：「正如那些繪風景畫的人們，為了考察山巒和高地的性質便側身於平原，而為了考察平原便高踞山頂一樣……」像馬基雅維里描述中理想的畫家一樣，克里斯托弗·諾蘭(Christopher Nolan)，在《黑暗騎士》中徹底研究了他的題材，並意味這主軸在《天能》延續。在這裡，我想說這兩部電影精神是西方政治哲學動態為基礎。如果仔細閱讀，這兩部電影將其政治背景聯繫起來，可以說《天能》是《黑暗騎士》的「政治續集」。 Read More

“One Hundred Years and Hope” Profiles the Japanese Communist Party Whilst Avoiding High Drama Or Emotionality

English Film

·February 18, 2023·3 min read

Documentary "One Hundred Years and Hope" offers a capable peek into candidates and campaigns of the Japanese Communist Party Read More