The 2010 Taiwan Film Festival @ the Shang/ Movie Schedule

Manila, Philippines -Shangri-La Plaza Mall continues its parade of international film festivals with a look into the burgeoning Taiwanese cinema industry, open to the public from September 23 to 28. Here’s a look at the lineup:

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The standout of this festival is probably Orz Boyz (Jiong nan hai, Yang Ya-che, 2008). The film tells the story of two boys dubbed Liars No. 1 and No. 2, who get up to all sorts of mischief as they imagine a world larger than their own. What starts out as a shaggy tale of a couple of young rascals grows to something more as the film starts to explore the roots of their mischief. Running parallel to all the fantastic images of the boy’s adventures is a down-to-earth story of kids just trying to deal with the hand that their lives dealt them. Holding this film together are great performances from the two young leads, Li Kuan-I and Pan Chin-yu, who seem to have been born to be in front of the camera.

You might want to check out Yang Yang (Cheng Yu-Chieh, 2009) if only to be introduced to the lovely Sandrine Pinna, who is emerging as one of the most promising young actresses in the world. Here she plays the titular character, a French-Taiwanese girl who grew up never knowing her father, thrust into the entertainment industry for the novelty of her ethnicity, despite having no real connection to the European side of her heritage. Director Cheng seems to be making a career of depicting the strangeness of the entertainment industry, and his gentle, unobtrusive camera presents the perfect vantage point to all the quiet drama in his character’s lives. The script doesn’t quite deliver on its promise, but Pinna continues to be someone to watch.

I’ve already spoken at length about Cape No. 7 (Hái-kak chhit-ho, Wei Te-Shang, 2008) back when it screened earlier this year at the Chinese Spring Film Festival. In this lineup, it remains one of the warmest crowd pleasers available to audiences, mixing themes of music, romance and cultural identity with a story that brings attention to an important issue in Taiwan. Again, the film as a whole is a little long, but its charm is undeniable.

The same focus on small town life can be found in two other films in the festival. Our Island, Our Dreams (Tong Chan-yu, 2009) uses the beautiful island of Kinmen as a backdrop for a story of young love. Three lifelong best friends have their relationship tested, as the two young men in the group develop feelings for their blossoming female best friend. Meanwhile, a soldier with romantic intentions comes in to complicate things further. Despite its picturesque setting, the film isn’t particularly cinematic, but its easy (albeit melodramatic) tale of romance might appeal to fans of Asian serials.


The gorgeous East coast of Taiwan serves as the star of Fishing Luck (Deng dai fei yu, Tseng Wen-Chen, 2005), which tells the story of a young woman who falls in love with a Taiwanese aborigine. The film hints at bigger issues surrounding Taiwan’s aboriginal population, but it mostly sticks to happier things, playing things out as a fairly entertaining romantic comedy. Likable performances makes it all perfectly palatable.



The success of the Step Up movies suggests that Chocolate Rap (Qiao ke li zhong ji, Chi Y. Lee, 2006) won’t have much trouble finding an audience. The movie follows a hip-hop dancing star who becomes depressed after an accident takes him out of competition. But he finds his groove when he starts training a young dancer for competition. The film is laid out like a sports movie, with the jaded veteran finding new hope in an eager young talent, complete with training montages. Strong dancing and some visual panache ought to keep things interesting.

Lastly comes a more mainstream offering from the island. Kung Fu Dunk (Gong fu guan lan, Chu Yen-Ping, 2008) features one of Taiwan’s biggest stars, Jay Chou, as a young man who grew up in a kung fu school, and ends up using his skills to gain an edge in basketball at the request of his greedy uncle. The film is too obvious in its attempt to recreate the success of Stephen Chow’s Shaolin Soccer, which is a problem since Chou is no Chow. But local audiences might find it easier to identify with this copy, with basketball serving as the main focus. With plenty of bombastic special effects and a good amount of kung fu, it’s all reasonably entertaining.


MOVIE SCHEDULE
Note: Schedule is still subject to change