Godspeed begins with an expletive, voiced feelingly by a panicked man, his face bathed in red light. The choice of words is understandable: with a pair of shears being closed around his neck and a menacing crowd of heavies standing by, Da Bao is having a day he would rather forget.
Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars
Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars is a feature-length documentary from 2010 which focuses on children with autism in Taiwan. The schmaltzy-title notwithstanding, this is a clear-eyed and frank look at the challenges of raising – and being – a child with autism.
Winds of September
There’s a bitter-sweet nostalgia to Tom Shu-yu LIN’s Winds of September, which seems to embody that strange liminality of summer’s end and autumn setting in. Beautifully paced and compellingly constructed, the film is a coming-of-age story that feels utterly real.
Tropical Fish
An often laugh-out-loud funny story, committed to seeing the slant angles of life and, to this end, filled with moments of wry observation, social satire, outright surrealism and dark revelations, not forgetting the odd poo joke along the way.
A Time to Live and a Time to Die
In A Time to Live and A Time To Die, Hou Hsiao-hsien portrays a rapidly changing Taiwan through one town and one family, tempering poignant nostalgia with clear-eyed reality.
52Hz I Love You
At its best moments, 52Hz I Love You can sweep you up in the revelry of it all, almost making you forget the flimsy plot and questionable characterisations.