
There are three stories of women and men: in “A Time for Love” set in 1966, a soldier searches for a young woman he met one afternoon playing pool Read More »
Tag Archives: Taiwan
Dong dong de jiàqi / A Summer at Grandpa’s (1984) Hsiao-Hsien Hou, Chi-Kuang Wang, Shu-Chen Li, Hsiu-Ling Lin, Drama

When a young brother and sister spend a pivotal summer away from home, they are changed. Ting-Ting and Tung-Tung (Wang Qiguang) are children of the city Read More »
Jiu shi liu liu de ta / Lovable You (1980) Hsiao-Hsien Hou, Kenny Bee, Anthony Chan, Ping-Yu Chang, Comedy, Drama, Romance

Wenqi Pan (FENG Feifei) is the daughter of a rich businessman. Her father arranges a marriage with Qian Ma (Anthony CHAN, aka CHAN Yau), son of another rich businessman. Read More »
Shaolin Popey / Shao Lin xiao zi (1994) Yen-Ping Chu, Jimmy Lin, Shao-Wen Hao, Ashton Chen, Action, Comedy

A high school loser dreams of winning the heart of the principal’s daughter, but his chances are slim as long as her bruiser boyfriend’s around. Fortunately, a chance meeting with a pair of Shaolin-trained kids (previously seen in DRAGON FROM SHAOLIN) gives him the fighting skills needed to come out on top. An unusual but entertaining blending of teen romantic comedy and martial arts slapstick.
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Rikisha Kuri / Da che fu (1974) Joseph Kuo, Chiang-Lung Wen, Yan-Yung Tso, Ping Lu, Action, Adventure

An action-packed film about a rickshaw boy who works to support his mother using his kung fu power to change the course of his life. This is over the top violent and a clear high point in the grimier vein of mid-70s martial arts flicks.
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Qing shao nian nuo zha / Rebels of the Neon God (1992) Ming-liang Tsai, Chao-jung Chen, Chang-bin Jen, Kang-sheng Lee, Crime, Drama

Defying his parents, Hsiao Kang drops out of the local crammer to head for the bright lights of downtown Taipei. He falls in with Ah Tze, a pretty hood and their relationships is a confused mixture of hero-worship and rivalry that soon leads to trouble.
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5 Shaolin Masters / 5 Masters of Death (1974) Cheh Chang, David Chiang, Lung Ti, Sheng Fu, Action, Drama

The story is simple (Shaolin vs. Manchu traitors), but the effect was anything but, as the screen’s most charismatic action actors team with a legendary director and revered choreographers (Liu Chia-liang and brother Liu Chia-yung) for scenes of unparalleled power.
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Xi yan / Garcon d’honneur / The Wedding Banquet (1993) Ang Lee, Winston Chao, May Chin, Ya-Lei Kuei, Comedy, Drama, Romance

A gay New Yorker stages a marriage of convenience with a young woman to satisfy his traditional Taiwanese family, but the wedding becomes a major inconvenience when his parents fly in for the ceremony…
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A Brighter Summer Day / Gu ling jie shao nian sha ren shi jian (1991) Edward Yang, Chen Chang, Lisa Yang, Kuo-Chu Chang, Crime, Drama, Romance

Among the most praised and sought-after titles in all contemporary film, this singular masterpiece of Taiwanese cinema, directed by Edward Yang, finally comes to home video in the United States. Set in the early sixties in Taiwan, A Brighter Summer Day is based on the true story of a crime that rocked the nation. A film of both sprawling scope and tender intimacy, this novelistic, patiently observed epic centers on the gradual, inexorable fall of a young teenager (Chen Chang, in his first role) from innocence to juvenile delinquency, and is set against a simmering backdrop of restless youth, rock and roll, and political turmoil.
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Spider Lilies / Ci qing (2007) Zero Chou, Rainie Yang, Isabella Leong, Kris Shen, Drama, Romance

Jade (Taiwanese singer Rainie Yang) is a cute, young webcam performer who thinks that getting a tattoo will enhance her sexy performance skills. Upon venturing out to the tattoo parlor owned by half-Japanese ink-slinger Takeko (Isabella Leong), Jade recalls a crush she harbored ten years ago. Subsequently entering into a surreal cyberspace seduction that emerges through computer images, flashbacks, and lavish costumes highlighted by lime-green wigs, Takeko finds the lines between reality and fantasy blurring as Jade’s teasing slowly chips away at her fragile facade.
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