Chinese movie descriptions here, no English subtitles for any of the movies - which probably is rather the fault of the company marketing the movies in Taiwan than the staff at SPOT. And to be honest, I rather take what I can get than diss that and whine about what I can’t get anyway. Besides, I’ll be back in “ALL AND EVERYTHING dubbed in German, NO originals available” land soon (try and find ANYTHING in English on German tv/German cinema? Subtitles??? Germans don’t like subtitles, they just dub). Compared to that, Taipei including SPOT is HEAVEN.
April 1 to 3: Canadian movies: Shake hands with the Devil: The story of a Canadian lieutenant and his UN command during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda Casuistry: The art of killing a cat: documentary about a guy who videotaped his killing of a cat and called it art??? :help: I, Claudia: Canadian movie In the Shadow of Gold Mountain: A story about Canadian Chinese + Hardwood: Academy Award nominee for best documentary Ryan: Oscar Winner for Best Short Film, based on the life of Canadian animator Ryan Larkin + Alter egos: a movie further exploring the life of Ryan Larkin Le Declin de l’Empire Americain: French-Canadian comedy about men and women Les Invasions barbares: French/English Canadian comedy about about sex, friendship, and all other things that invade our lives The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam: Canadian documentary about the director’s grandfather, an acrobat and magician Black Robe: Classic about a Jesuit’s priest and his companions trip through the wilderness of 17th century Quebec
April 4 to 16: European movies: My Life as a dog: Swedish movie by Lasse Hallstroem about the life of a boy who’s mother is terminally ill Les Choristes: French movie about a teacher who turns difficult boys into a boy choir - BIG success in Europe The story of the Weeping Camel: nice and slow movie about a Mongolian family - not much dialogue, great for children if they don’t mind not understanding the few dialogues Raining Cats and Frogs: French animation Nowhere in Africa: German movie about a Jewish family that moves to Africa to escape the Nazis
As always, the movies are in the original language with Chinese subtitles only
April 19-24: short movie festival
April 26-30: The Motorcycle Diaries (anybody in for buying a ticket for Fred Smith? ) Vera Drake: Mike Leigh movie about a woman who performs abortions in 1950’s England - I’m in for that one!
Will these be further films with English language reviews in their promotional literature but no English subtitles? Fuckadoodee hilarious. Mike Leigh? Give us a break from that patronising twit.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh - the movie I’ve been waiting for for years is on at SPOT a week after I left Taiwan. It’s not fair :fume: :fume: :fume:
I’m talking about The Scent of the green Papaya - one of the most beautiful movies ever and on this week friday for the last time (No mention of English subtitles, so I wouldn’t count on them).
Other movies in the Ocean-Ville festival that runs until this friday, August 5: Monsoon Wedding by Mira Nair Mon-Rak Transistor, a Thai movie Three Seasons, a Vietnamese movie about an American looking for his daughter At the Height of Summer, another movie by “Green Papaya” director Tran Anh Hung Cyclo, also by Tran Anh Hung God’s Children, a movie by a Japanese director about the inhabitants of a slum in Manila Osama, an Afghan movie about a 12-year old girl growing up under the Taliban
No notes on subtitles
August 5 to 10, they have an Asia Lesbian Film and Video Festival (without details)
August 11 and 12 it’s Eros, a collection of 3 short movies including with Wong Kar-wais “The Hand” which is supposedly the best one of the three and a must for Wong Kar-wai fans. The website lists English subtitles
August 12 to 26, there is a Chinese language movie festival with quite a few classics like Farewell, my Concubine and Raise the Red Lantern. No mentioning of subtitles
August 26 to 31, they screen Turtles can fly, a Kurdish movie about refugees. Chinese subtitles only.
As always, detailed schedules here. Enjoy, guys. And remember me I’ll be envying you while cursing our five arthouse cinemas here none of which is screening a single original version. EVERYTHING here is dubbed into German. TV is even worse, even documentaries get dubbed there. Oh, how I’d love to work my way through an incomprehensible movie with Chinese subtitles :s
Went and saw this yesterday. Good movie. Some disturbing scenes though - dead babies, babies dying - that sort of thing, but what you’d expect form a story about a group of peopel so desperate they live on the side of a mountain of garbage which collapses killing hundreds of them from time to time, just so they can eke out an existence scavenging. And then they close the dump, and things get really desperate.
There’s a good festival on at Spot at the moment. Unfortunately it’s halfway through already, but I still plan on catching a few films. Here’s the schedule on Spot’s website (sometimes doesn’t load):
The online schedule doesn’t tell you which films have English subtitles, and perhaps less than half do, but I picked up a brochure, and here’s the films it says have English subtitles (of those still to show - I’ve added a few notes):
The Kingdom and the Beauty (1958 HK historical classic)
Breaking the Willow (HK 2003)
Colour Blossoms (HK 2004 - looks good)
Grandma and her Ghosts (Taiwan 1998 animation - experimental?)
Striking Back (Taiwan 1996 experimental)
Wu Yen (HK 2001 wuxia comedy?)
The Love Eterne (HK 1963 classic romance)
Hong Kong Nocturne (HK1967)
Peony Pavilion (HK 2001)
The Blue and the Black (HK 1996 romance epic)
The Dream of the Red Chamber (1997 HK adaption of the classic)
I visited that particular locale my own self some 10 - 12 years ago. I don’t know if they got it in the film or not but at times the garbage they live on begins to decompose causing heat which leads to underground fires which leads to the inhabitants not only living on a pile of garbage but a smoldering pile of garbage to boot. Despite the filth and the stink though you know the people seemed pretty happy. Go figure.
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