Emily Y. Chang

In this drama, the harsh treatment of women in Chinese society is examined and subtly commented upon as it tells the tale of an impoverished woman living in Shanghai, circa 1910 who tries to support her brother and sister-in-law. A marriage to a wealthy man is arranged for her, and reluctantly she endures it, even though she does not love the man who is as cruel as he is wealthy. His mother is also brutally unkind to her. She then has a son, but her struggles are not over when her husband dies and only leaves her a modest inheritance. Her wretched life has made her bitter, and so she begins making her son suffer as she die; she also becomes addicted to opium.

7.3/10

The young entrepreneur, Wong Shing-tak, has been married for ten year. He and his wife, Li Lin, lead a satisfying life together, until when some friends introduce Wong to a reporter called Yip Yuen. What starts out as purely a business relationship between the two turns into something much more than that. As Wong shows his trust towards Yip more and more, Li becomes increasingly. The marriage between Wong and Li begins to lose its grip...

6.3/10

Taiwanese comedy film.

Taiwanese crime drama.

A woman is raped and impregnated by a psychopath, who comes back from beyond the grave to exact revenge when his demonic son undergoes an exorcism.

6/10

Made one year before the better-known omnibus film The Sandwich Man, In Our Time is the work that first announced the coming of the New Taiwan Cinema. Consisting of four segments, each set in different decades from the 1950s through the 1980s, and dealing with protagonists at different stages of life between childhood and young adulthood. Yang’s made his cinematic debut with the second segment, “Expectations,” the story of an adolescent girl in the 1960s whose life is given a jolt by the arrival of a slightly older male student as a lodger in her house. Taken as a whole, In Our Time announces the ambition of the New Taiwan Cinema: to eschew studio-bound escapism and melodrama in favor of a hard-hitting cinema grounded in everyday life. (Harvard Film Archive)

7/10

From the Subway Cinema web page for the film when it screened at the 2013 New York Asian Film Festival: "Another Tsai Yang-ming film this time starring Elsa Yeung as a Ling, a dancing teacher in Hong Kong whose best friend Meihua is killed by gangsters in Japan. Ling travels to Tokyo and meets with Meifeng, Meihua’s sister, and discovers that Meihua had hidden cocaine from the gangsters before her death. Of course the gangsters capture Meifeng and turn her into a prostitute and Ling tries to save her but loses an eye in the process. What is she to do? Dress in bikinis made out of bandages, put on an eyepatch, and recruit friends who are out for vengeance, too. Like a virtual tour of Japan where every tourist attraction is a chance for revenge, Ling sees Mount Fuji, Sumo games, hot spring baths and even goes to Harajuku before taking the gangsters apart with flying fists, feet, and swords."

6.5/10

Taiwanese adventure film that reunites Ivy Ling Po with ex-Shaw stars Ching Li and Lisa Chiao Chiao.

Sun Ya-fang, a freshman from college, is wooed by her schoolmates Chen, a boastful and frivolous playboy, and Yang, an introvert, who is simple and honest. Yang's sister teaches him to adopt a more aggressive approach towards Sun. Perturbed by his advances, Sun deflects Yang's attention towards her classmate, Sung. Meanwhile, Sun's cousin, George, returns from abroad and further complicates the situation. Sun falls for George, who is more interested in Sung.

1981 Taiwanese film

An ambitious country boy gets a job as a security guard in Taipei.

Taiwanese ghost comedy film.

Roc Tien plays a top swordsman, who goes after a league of professional assassins and kung fu masters who are trying to upset the balance in the martial world.

3.6/10

The inhabitants of a small village call on a new chief to protect them from bandits. The latter with the help of his two daughters make every effort to thwart the multiple attacks and looting launched on the village.

5.8/10

In wake of the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), a group of Japanese warlords calculate that the best way to prepare an invasion of the rest of China from their southern Manchuria staging ground.

6.5/10

Taiwanese drama.

Hsiao-Peng, an unmarried mother is sent to a maternity home for young single mothers. During her time in the maternity home, she slowly overcomes the depressive thoughts and builds strong bonds with Wen-Yueh, Ko-Hsin, and Madam Pai. After moving out the maternity home, Hsiao-Peng lives with Wen-Yueh and Ko-Hsin in an apartment where they continue to be each other’s support. The two main settings of the film, the maternity home and the apartment, build an atypical family model. It is a tender coming-of-age tale where women are empowered with the right to think for themselves.