Discoveries from Taiwan World Cinema

Conscience and Guilt

A hot-tempered woman must carry out the dying wish of a government agent and complete his mission.

An old fridge and three sensitive women in an old flat. A mysterious sound starts to spread across the flat, echoing their inner world.

Six dads of terminally ill children form a rock band called "Sleepy Dads". With an average age of 52, they aim to to hit the stage of the highly competititve Sea Music Festival. For this old, amateur band, it is as difficult as the Apollo missions to the moon. Nonetheless, these fathers show no fear because they already lead their daily lives on the edge.

At a train station floating in the cloud, a mysterious red tail catches the boy’s attention. Chasing the red tail, the boy travels through countless magical places, runs into bizarre creatures, and finally he meets the gentleman, who seems to know his secrets more than he does. When the red tail reminds the boy of his own memory and sadness, what are the secrets hidden behind, and where will they lead him next? Inspired by Wang’s same named comic story, the mysterious red tail leads viewers on a magical journey, creating a poetic metaphor of people’s childhood memories.

Working as a “teahouse lady”, Gin desperately needs money. A regular of the teahouse brings his virgin apprentice, Nan, on an adventure into manhood. Mama Shiu gives the business to Gin. She takes Nan to the hotel. A secret connection between the two is about to be revealed, leading their fates in a new direction...

Taiwanese war film directed by Li Chia.

The film follows the last 4 years life of Grandma Hashima, the last existent from colonial Taiwan, who knows the secrets of "Green Jail," the notorious coal mine before World War II on Iriomote Island, Okinawa, Japan.

The story of a fighter who avenges his slain father and recovers stolen gold.

Grandpa escaped from the nursing home! But when his daughter and grandson go looking for him, they encounter old people who have turned into zombies! How will the guilt-ridden boy face his zombie grandpa when his treacherous journey of zombie escape is intertwined with memories of his grandfather's illness and how they abandoned him?

A journalist meets three girls with the same appearance but different identities. Finally, it turns out that these girls are the same person. Why does she use different identities? As the journalist tries to get the answer, he falls into the labyrinth of love.

Journey to Kwan Shan. A Taiwan-HK film by CMPC.

One night in Taipei, a female factory worker is killed on her way home. Koh Kang-young, the lead detective, concludes that she was killed by a poisonous snake from the bite marks left on the victim's neck. Reporter Lee Ok-jung rebuts his theory in her article. Through this incident, Detective Koh and Ok-jung meet frequently and they become friends. Afterwards, two more women are killed in the same manner. It is revealed that Ok-jung can't account for her whereabouts for each murder. When another murder is committed, Detective Koh finds out the truth about Ok-jung. When Ok-jung was three, a unique snake bit her. Therefore, she kills people by biting them like a poisonous snake.

This is a story about ?evil inside ?, based on a true Taiwan social event. ?Evil inside? means the devil lives inside your heart, or the darkness inside your conscious; such as fear?hatred?greed?pride?stubbornness?selfishness. The darkness can be always exit, or come out in a sudden. It can hide and grow deeply in your mind to make you either become stronger or to be overwhelmed. The story happens in the present day of Taiwan society. ?The deceased collaborated organization ?as so called ? D.C.O. ?or ? The Help ? has existed in Taiwan for at least 30 years. The purpose of this organization to be founded is to help the family members taking care of the funeral affairs when their elderlies passed away. Because of the certain amount of money involved, some greedy businessmen take the advantage of elderlies? ?death? as a huge profit to lure people by gambling. Sadly, the gamblers sometimes includes the family members of the deceased...

Documentary about making of "Three Tears in Borneo".

Taiwanese drama film.

Tshiu-Bi and her husband Siu-Gi have a seemingly perfect marriage but still have no children. When Tsiu-Bi's friend, Le-Hun, a single mother, is forced to work in a nightclub to raise her son, Tshiu-Bi tries her best to help her. However, unbeknownst to Tshiu-Bi, Le-Hun and SiuGi were once lovers. To avoid complications, Le-Hun decides to move away, only to run into Siu-Gi again in a nightclub. After a night together, Le-Hun becomes pregnant. When Tshiu-Bi learns this startling truth, she makes a surprising decision.

A rural magistracy encounters three scourges that threaten destruction to the entire village: a fierce tiger, a demonic dragon and a criminal convict fugitive who turns out to be the only hope for salvation to defeat the other two evils.

Martial arts film from Taiwan

Taiwanese movie

No English overview available yet. This film was nominated at the 2021 Golden Harvest Awards.

Tragically, Lu Wen-chun passed away before confessing his love to Chang Yun-chien. Will he find a way to reunite with his beloved?

During the soft lockdown, many people once again got back in touch with their lives: a girl shot videos everyday to share with the woman who was to be her mother, a father who finally has time for his cat, a teenager who has to graduate through videoconferencing, an individual quarantining alone at home, and a director whose new film was put on hold. Everyone grows and adapts to the new normal, and subsequently bids farewell to their old life.

The plot centers on Little Lu (Sonny Yu) who tends horses for the local Shaolin temple, and wants to learn skills that will help him defeat some corrupt officials who want to destroy it. He has a couple of friends (one with no arms, the other with no legs) who help him train using some bronze mechanical horses in a secret room in the temple.

After the cession of Taiwan to Japan in 1895 by the Manchu government, people on the island staged a series of anti-Japanese revolts to oppose the tyrannical rule of the Japanese militarists.

Tsay Fu-ming was once an addicted gambler, being unemployed all the time, and only knew practicing boxing as soon as he had time. Nonetheless, he is still loved deeply by his girlfriend, Sheau Huey. After a fight, a village bully named Ah Lu bears enmity for Ming. Later he forces Fu-ming’s girlfriend to marry him and makes the village head to expel Fu-ming from the village.

Something is wrong with the “soil”, rendering farmers unable to make money. Enthusiastic middle-aged farmer A-Ren switches to the tech industry, aiming to revive the soil by turning garbage into compost, with his family reluctantly supporting his dream. Meanwhile, An-he, who is nearing retirement, leads his family to cultivate the land using organic farming methods. Farming becomes not only a way of life but also an attitude towards life. As the cycles of nature unfold between the tug-of-war of ideals versus reality, two farmers — one old, one young; one calm, one energetic — will intersect amid the changing seasons of life.

“I Remember” tells the story of sister writers Chu Tien-wen and Chu Tien-xin, from co-founding the San-san magazine to their respective creative and political efforts up to the present.

The time was 1948, the place was Nanking. The two students Chi Ping and Chang Chung Yao were staying in a room rented from the Han family. Yin Len, the elder daughter of the Han family, fell in love with art student Chi Ping; and soon they were engaged. Chi Ping left for Paris to study art and asked Chang Chung Yao to take good care of Yin Len during his absence. Few months later, just before Nanking was to fall into Communist hands, Chang Chung Yao took Yin Len to Taiwan and lost contact of Chi Ping...

Two ladies of the sword are transporting a valuable Dragon Pearl and everyone else wants it. They’re assisted by two heroes, one of whom is somewhat less heroic and more of a rascal, although both demonstrate strong fighting skills.

One time soft-drink salesman Chang Chia-po, now a powerful warlord, courts the support and aid of the ammunition dealers Tu Mu-hsien, Robertson and Wilson. To impress them with his power and the strength of his army, Chang orders a parade. Much to his dismay, the parade ends in catastrophe giving the gun dealers a very bad impression...

Tsai Ming-liang's new film, Back Home, depicts Anong Houngheuangsy and the daily life of his home village in Laos. We witness buildings in varying states of habitation and disrepair, farm animals, rice fields, religious sites, domestic scenes, a sun-dappled food market, and a dog adorably trying (and failing) to escape a carnival ride.

As a child, Umin saw her mot her humiliated and her older brother shot by Japanese soldiers. What will happen as the young Truku woman once again finds herself in the forest with a Japanese explorer? She must decide whether or not to kill her enemy…

Soft, an escaped undocumented worker, clutches a woman's ID card in his hand. This woman is the goddess of his best friend, Chai, who yearns to meet her. To fulfill Chai's desire, Soft embarks on a journey, heading toward the location indicated on the ID card.

The ultimate wish of Helen’s mom is to see her only daughter getting happily married with to the perfect man. Helen’s mom had no choice but to hack into Helen’ s Facebook for a sneak peek. To her biggest surprise, she finds that Helen is dating...a girl!?

Mr and Mrs Chang live in Taipei's Hsi-Men-Ding (the city's entertainment/red light/nightlife district) with their teenaged kids. The parents work as cleaners in a "love hotel" and send the kids out to work as ticket scalpers, block-buying seats for hit movies like A City of Sadness and reselling them at a profit. Tragedy strikes when the daughter Mei-Hsueh flirts with the idea of prostituting herself and changes her mind at the last moment, leaving her first client with injuries that put him on the critical list. The focus throughout is on the son Ah Tong, who has a latent talent as a writer that is never going to flower.

Room 12 is a place where people leave their final wills. A boy arrives at Room 12 and meets the owner of the place. They have a strange encounter and each of them understand more about what the other is thinking about.

16-year-old Allen lives a chaotic and underprivileged life. Defeated by life from the start, Allen finds joy and hope in hurdling, his favourite sport which he often wins in competitions during middle school. A cruel fate awaits him when he enters high school. Because of his height, his performance is suddenly hampered and he cannot even handle the basic 3-step hurdle. His hope of being in the school team is dashed, let alone winning over his teammates. The more desperately he tries, the more he realises his goal is beyond reach. Can Allen overcome this challenge before high school ends?

Bon and Yee, a music teacher, where lover originally. However, they depart because of a musunderstanding. One day, they meet again in a concert, will they being together again after those years?

Lin Zemin and his wife Xiugu move to Taiwan from Fujian. At the same time, the Japanese invade Taiwan, leading Zemin to die during the war of resistance. His son Yongyuan grows up and goes to Japan to study medicine were he makes three friends, one of whom is a Japanese girl named Sadako.

A 12-year-old XiaoJing survives a car accident unscathed. She bravely deals with the trepidation alone, until her father rushes to the hospital. She thought that her anxieties and emotional injuries could be alleviated, but is forced to face a more severe difficulty.

Set in China during the 1940s, story told through the eyes of a 10 year old boy of the relationship between the boy, his mysterious nanny and her weakling godbrother.

A story of a Taiwanese man who wants to film a special porn called Plan A.

Taiwanese movie production

Middle-aged woman Melody is in love. Though Charlie is 5878km away, and they don’t speak same language. This Charlie from the screen writes songs, cares her so much. The relationship is amazing, except for that it’s very likely Charlie is a scammer. If you don't try, how would you know this is true love?

Yong Hsiuan is the new teacher of the special education program. She met an autistic female student, Qian Qian, who is known for biting people around her. She accidentally found out that Qian Qian has been sexually abused. Furthermore, all the evidence shows that the suspect might be Director Chen…

Two cripples protect a beautiful girl who is on the run from local gangsters and who has become temporarily blinded, while trying to disguise the fact that they are crippled so they can win her affections.

Taiwanese horror.