![]() ![]() While there are other Taiwanese horror movies, Detention is the first mainstream Taiwanese film to directly depict the island’s White Terror.īased off a popular video game of the same name, Detention follows a high school girl named Fang Ray-shin as she wanders the haunted halls of her high school. ![]() Horror flick Detention represents another “first” on this list of 2019’s best Taiwanese movies. Original Title: 返校 | Director: John Hsu | Starring: Gingle Wang, Fu Meng-po, Tseng Ching-hua | Genre: Horror, Psychological, Political Given Taiwan’s reputation for media sensationalism and recent controversies over fake news, it’s a timely topic. While It’s a Mad Mad Mad Show doesn’t make any direct political commentary, it’s a high-energy, eminently accessible look at what happens when greed and ratings drive media production. For instance, there’s a parody of popular Taiwanese TV show Kangsi Coming (康熙來了), and a children’s show named after the Yakult (養樂多) drink that every East Asian kid knows. What results is a series of zany and addictingly entertaining segments that those familiar with Taiwanese pop culture will especially enjoy. To do this, he fires all of his staff save a few B-players, whom he commissions to produce the most ridiculous programming possible. Lo wants to purposefully drive its ratings down so he can sell it to triad gangsters and pocket a kickback. In It’s a Mad Mad Mad Show, a man named Mr. That roughly describes It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad Show, one of 2019’s more sociopolitically relevant comedies from Taiwan. Imagine The Producers blended with Taiwan’s sensational TV news. Original Title: 瘋狂電視台瘋電影 | Director: Hsieh Nien-Tsu | Starring: Genie Chou, Liang Hsiu-Shen, Lim Min Chen, Liu Kuan Ting, Nadow | Genre: Comedy Nevertheless, the movie has better acting than other recent Taiwanese romcoms, and avoids excessively saccharine melodrama. Besides the love triangle, there’s obligatory quirky humor and encounters with gangsters. A love triangle develops, as Xia-tian helps Jiu-tian work up the courage to confess to Bo-he, but starts developing feelings for him in the process.īesides the somewhat different friendzone dynamic with Bo-he and Jiu-bing, Stand By Me generally sticks to familiar Taiwanese romcom tropes. After his dorm explodes (seriously), Jiu-bing moves into a off-campus apartment with a female roommate named Xia-tian. However, he’s never confessed his feelings for her, and it’s Bo-he who has to take care of him instead of the other way around (as traditional in Asian romances with friendzone situations). A college student who also works as a running pacemaker, Jiu-bing has loved his female friend Bo-he since childhood. The film stars Mason Lee (son of Ang Lee) as our protagonist, Jiu-bing. Stand By Me is one of Taiwan’s less cringeworthy romances of recent memory, and tries to offer something slightly different. Romances are a staple genre for Taiwanese cinema, though their quality can vary. Original Title: 陪你很久很久 | Director: Lai Meng-jie | Starring: Mason Lee, Ivy Shao, Tsai Jui-hsueh | Genre: Romance, Comedy It’s the first Taiwanese film to emulate Hollywood “corporate warfare” flicks like Wall Street, and also the first to offer pointed social commentary on millennial malaise around lack of economic opportunity. While The Last Thieves didn’t do so well at the box office and had somewhat muddled storytelling, it’s still worth highlighting for pushing the boundaries of Taiwanese cinema. Director Jack Hsu actually created his own blockchain startup called SELF TOKEN in tandem with the film’s release, and allowed moviegoers to pay for tickets with SELF’s cryptocurrency. However, The Last Thieves wholeheartedly embraces the technology both within its plot and outside. Unable to get investors for his blockchain startup, Yin partners with a ruthless capitalist named Hsu Ching-and must balance his idealism with commercial realities.Ĭryptocurrencies and blockchain aren’t new to Asian cinema (see Vietnam’s Bitcoin Heist). The movie centers on a young entrepreneur named Yin Tzu-hsiang, who aspires to make the world a more equitable place through decentralized blockchain technology (think Bitcoin). Original Title: 聖人大盜 | Director: Jack Hsu | Starring: Megan Lai, Yen Tsao, Joanne Tseng, Eric Tsang | Genre: Drama, Thrillerīilled as a “ blockchain corporate warfare” movie, The Last Thieves has the most unique concept of any film on this list.
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