English

A to Z

A Competent but Problematic Adaptation

·August 17, 2021·5 min read

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

A Cross-Genre Thriller About Life After Death

English Film

·July 27, 2021·4 min read

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

A Farewell to a City That Has Changed Forever

English Interviews Music

·December 10, 2021·6 min read

Brian Hioe spoke to Rainbow Chan, whose EP Stanley was released on November 25th. According to the EP description, “Stanley is her exploration of a love past, a farewell to a city that’s changed forever” Read More

A Feel-Good Story About Two Gay Dads and Their Son

English Film

·June 18, 2021·3 min read

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

A Film About the Asian American Working Class

English Film

·April 23, 2021·5 min read

If you are like me and consider Crazy Rich Asians one of the worst Asian American films ever made, you might very well enjoy Minari Read More

A Forgotten Period in Taiwanese History and Its Last Witness

English Film

·March 24, 2021·4 min read

Green Jail is a documentary that chronicles the twilight days of Hashima Yoshiko, the last living Taiwanese resident of Iriomote Island, the second-largest island of Okinawa Prefecture Read More

A Glance into the Everyday of COVID

English Film

·April 12, 2022·1 min read

“Footnote,” directed by Zhengfan Yang, consists primarily of footage of Chicago cityscapes in 2020. The footage is mostly of empty streets, paired with audio from police radio in the background Read More

A Glimpse at Democracy in Motion

English Film

·May 11, 2021·4 min read

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

A Glimpse into the Life of a Hong Kong Everyman in the Midst of Protest

English Film

·April 1, 2021·4 min read

The short film, Night is Young, directed by Kwok Zune, follows a Hong Kong taxi driver on one night in 2019, sometime during the protests that broke out in reaction to a proposed extradition bill that allowed for the deportation of criminal suspects to China. It was feared that this bill would be deleterious to political freedoms in Hong Kong, with the bill used to deport pro-democracy advocates to China to face charges Read More

A Haunting Meditation on Fukushima: Ryuichi Sakamoto’s “Is Your Time”

Art English

·October 19, 2021·2 min read

Ryuichi Sakamoto and Shiro Takatani’s art installation, “Is Your Time,” proves a powerful meditation on the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. This is presented through the piano at the centerpiece of the installation, which was discovered by Sakamoto in the ruins of a building in the affected Fukushima prefecture, left behind by its owners—wherever they might be now. The art installation is currently showing in the Taipei Music Center until November 14th, after having already been shown in Tokyo and Beijing Read More

A Humanistic Look at How the Outbreak Was Brought Under Control in Wuhan

English Film

·August 31, 2021·3 min read

Wuhan Wuhan, directed by Yung Chang, is a humanistic look at everyday residents and medical workers in Wuhan at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year. The documentary begins shortly after the peak of cases in the city, and follows residents of Wuhan until the end of the city’s lockdown in April 2020 Read More

A Look Back at 2021: Ten Highlights from Electric Soul’s Last Year

English Music

·January 4, 2022·3 min read

Look back on the past year of Asian electronic music with the top ten articles from our partner publication Electric Soul! Electric Soul is a Hong Kong-based electronic music platform and publication Read More