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Tag: Taiwan

action, review1 Comment

REVIEW: The Assassin (2015)

July 2, 2020 Grant Watson

Yinniang (Shu Qi) was taken from her home at the age of ten and trained to become a master assassin. Now an adult, she fails to undertake her latest mission when she sees her target cradling his infant son. As … Continue reading REVIEW: The Assassin (2015)

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REVIEW: Cha Cha for Twins (2012)

May 26, 2020May 26, 2020 Grant Watson

Mini and Poni (Huang Pei-Chia) are twin sisters enrolled in their senior year of high school. They’re both star players on the basketball team. When Mini begins to be pursued by one of the boys in their school, and then … Continue reading REVIEW: Cha Cha for Twins (2012)

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REVIEW: Heavy Craving (2019)

March 9, 2020 Grant Watson

Ying-juan (Tsai Jia-yin) is a 30 year-old woman, still living with her mother and working as a cook at her mother’s child care centre. She is overweight: the children at her workplace tease her, neighbours resent and bully her, and … Continue reading REVIEW: Heavy Craving (2019)

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REVIEW: Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003)

February 18, 2020February 18, 2020 Grant Watson

A run-down Taipei cinema screens its final movie: King Hu’s legendary wuxia film Dragon Inn. While the film plays the cinema’s disabled cashier (Chen Shiang-chyi) slowly goes about her work, young gay men awkwardly use the theatre as a place to … Continue reading REVIEW: Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003)

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REVIEW: The Tag-Along (2015)

January 5, 2020 Grant Watson

Ho Chih-wei (River Huang) lives in a Taipei apartment with his grandmother Shu-fang (Liu Yin-shang). He works as a junior real estate agent while dating his girlfriend of five years, Shen Yi-chun (Tiffany Hsu Wei-ning). His aunt Shui has gone … Continue reading REVIEW: The Tag-Along (2015)

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REVIEW: Beyond Beauty: Taiwan from Above (2013)

August 20, 2019 Grant Watson

There seems to be a specific sub-genre of documentary film dedicated to rolling aerial vistas of landscapes. Slow drifting shots of mountains and fields, crashing oceans, lush forests, and so on. They are usually edited together with rich musical scores, … Continue reading REVIEW: Beyond Beauty: Taiwan from Above (2013)

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REVIEW: The Island That All Flow By (2016)

August 7, 2019 Grant Watson

Written by Travis Johnson Capitalism ruins everything – that’s the message I took away from this Taiwanese slice-of-life drama from first time feature director, Chan Ching-lin*. It’s a message that seems to have resonated with the home crowd and the … Continue reading REVIEW: The Island That All Flow By (2016)

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REVIEW: Dad’s Suit (2018)

January 6, 2019 Grant Watson

Elderly widower Chin-mao (Hsiao Hou-tao) lives alone in his family house in Pingxi. When a painful accident sees him admitted into hospital, his middle-aged children begin argue over whether or not to send him to a nursing home in Taipei. … Continue reading REVIEW: Dad’s Suit (2018)

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REVIEW: Long Time No Sea (2018)

December 17, 2018July 10, 2019 Grant Watson

Manawei (Golden Horse winner Si Pangoyod) is a young boy living with his grandmother (Feng Ying-li) on Orchid Island, south of Taiwan. His father (Ou Lu) is largely absent, having left the island to work in the southern Taiwanese city … Continue reading REVIEW: Long Time No Sea (2018)

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REVIEW: Gatao 2: Rise of the King (2018)

December 11, 2018December 22, 2018 Grant Watson

Ren (Wang Shih-hsien) is a mid-level gang leader in Taipei’s criminal underworld. One night a former friend named Jian (Collin Chou) returns home to cause trouble and gets arrested. As the police take him away, Jian warns Ren that he … Continue reading REVIEW: Gatao 2: Rise of the King (2018)

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