The film that kickstarted the New Taiwanese Cinema movement, ‘In Our Time’ is a rebellious ode to youth in four vignettes of ’80s teenage life. The film includes a rare, never-seen-before piece from the late Edward Yang (‘Yi Yi,’ ‘A Brighter Summer Day’).
Tag: TAIWAN
A family in rural Taiwan starts to break up when the son’s young wife dies giving birth to her second child. The son Kun-Cheng leaves home and drifts into another sexual relationship, but tries to be a good father to his kids and a tolerant, filial son to his parents, both of whom irritate the hell out of him.
In 1940s Taiwan, a small Japanese military marching band ceremoniously arrives at an impoverished farming village to return the remains of Taiwanese soldiers who died fighting in a war far from home. The Japanese occupation (1895–1945) is nearing its end, but the villagers are less concerned with colonial politics than with feeding their families. One day, an American bomb falls onto a field, where it lies unexploded. Oblivious to the potential danger, two clownish brothers excitedly carry it into town hoping to be rewarded by the Japanese general. The journey is filled with slapstick humor as the two escape multiple near-death scenarios.
The title of “A Confucian Confusion,” a frantically up-to-the-minute comedy of manners about life in present-day Taipei, refers to a novel written by one of t he characters in the movie. In the book, Confucius is reincarnated as a popular media personality. To his chagrin, the ancient Chinese sage discovers he is admired not for who he is but for being such a brilliant impostor.
In 1949, the Communists take over mainland. The refugees and the military arrive in the Keelung Harbor in Taiwan. While the father holds secret meetings with other generals in attempt to recover the lost land, the kids still play games with their grandma who still enjoys the harmony and peace in hardship. Gradually, it seems that there was no hope to fight back the fatherland. The general turned father has to run a small business to support the family. He encounters a series of struggles. And finally his kids grow up.
The childhood and early adulthood of Li Tien-lu, an 84-year-old Taiwanese puppet master, comes to life using a combination of documentary technique and elegant dramatization, while the real Li functions as on-and-off-screen narrator, as the film travels from 1908 to 1945.
The European Upper Crust meets the Taiwan Underworld in this convoluted comic action thriller. Winston Cheng is a prominent businessman who has somehow managed to fall deep into debt to organized crime leaders in Taipai, to the tune of $100 million. When it becomes clear that the gangsters are tired of waiting for their money, Cheng goes underground, just as two mob enforcers are sent out to find him. Cheng’s son — who calls himself Red Fish — is the leader of a street gang; the gunmen start following Red Fish and his partners in crime — Hong Kong, Lun Lun, and Little Buddha — in hopes that the son will lead them to the father.