taiwanese film

1

Eat Drink Man Woman – Food is Life

Eat drink man woman

Eat Drink Man Woman Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

If you like food, Eat Drink Man Woman is your film. It’s at the centre of the Chu family from Taipei. It brings them together, it fuels their romantic escapes, and even brings them in touch with their past. It’s a guide through life in Taiwan.

From: Taiwan, Asia
Watch: Trailer, Free on Tubi, Rent on Amazon, Buy on Amazon
Next: Like Water for Chocolate, Mi Familia, Lamb
Continue reading “Eat Drink Man Woman – Food is Life”
2

Le Moulin (Taiwan) – An Inventive Documentary of Surrealism in Taiwan

Le Moulin Film Difficulty Ranking: 5

Watching Le Moulin is like walking round a great Taiwanese museum. All the interesting stuff is listed next to some intriguing artifacts from the period. You will come out of the film feeling like an expert on Taiwanese literature in the 20th century.

Why Watch Le Moulin?
  • If you want to see a proper art house film
  • To learn a contemporary history of Taiwanese literature, especially the influence of Surrealism (pretty specialist stuff)
  • See a documentary told through a range of artistic forms (paintings, poems, and of course film) reminiscent of Weerasethakul’s A Mysterious Object at Noon
  • Learn a bit about the history of Taiwan as well from the pre-war 1930s to the Kuomintang ruled 1950s
The Breakdown

Le Moulin starts with dice rolling on a board. Disorientating music plays as we watch four men with their heads and feet out of frame line up to be photographed. Next we see the picture crystalising on a piece of photo paper in it’s chemical bath.

The four men are part of a collective of Taiwanese poets that tried to establish a Taiwanese voice against the Japanese colonisers. You’ll follow their story from the early 1930s when Taiwan was occupied by Japan, through to the 1950s when Kuomintang declared martial law.

You will learn a lot about Taiwanese history and literature watching Le Moulin. However, the main attraction is it’s form. One minute you’re watching a re enactment of the collective and the next you are being shown incredible still pictures from the era and having poems read to you in full. You’ll even notice art work from Picasso, Cocteau, and Chaplin dotted around the film.

All in all it is a complete documentation of modern Taiwanese literature. It leaves no rock unturned.

Conclusion

The style and form sets Le Moulin apart. It weaves in photos, mementos, art, poetry, and reenactments to create what is effectively a museum exhibit on Taiwanese literature. A must for someone interested in how to use form in historic documentary films.

For a fictional film which also experiments with form, I’d recommend checking out Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Mysterious Object at Noon.