A group of aimless Taipei residents deal with their personal problems in this Taiwanese drama that does feature brief flashes of black humor. Much of the story centers upon lonely Mrs. Chen who has trouble coping with her philandering husband, and nearly senile mother-in-law.
Tag: TAIWAN
The pop-star leads from Hou’s first feature, Cute Girl, are reunited in the director’s follow-up, a brisk work of bubble-gum romance that begins to experiment with the rules of the genre. This time, Taiwanese singing sensation Feng Fei-fei plays Hsing-hui, a trendy photographer visiting a seaside village in Penghu with her successful boss/fiancé. When she happens upon a flute-playing medic blinded in an ambulance crash (Kenny Bee), sparks fly, songs are sung, and she’s left with the tough decision of who to say “I do” to. Despite the eye-rolling premise, Hou infuses the film with enough formal ingenuity (long takes, telephoto lenses, on-location shooting) that a case can be made for its auteurial significance.
A righteous husband-and-wife swordfighting duo struggle to protect China from the machinations of Japanese pirates and corrupt officials.
Soon after Japan relinquishes control of Taiwan in 1945, the Lin brothers face hardships from the changing culture. Bar owner Wen-heung, the eldest brother, falls foul of local gangsters, Wen-sun disappears, and Wen-leung, scarred by his experiences in the war, ends up in an insane asylum. Deaf-mute photographer Wen-ching, the youngest brother, decides to make a stand and fight the Kuomintang government from China that is assuming power.
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’).
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.