Angelica Lee

A woman seeking a quiet life in post-World War II British Malaya finds love and a common interest in gardening with a mysterious Japanese man.Read More »

Betelnut Beauty is the english for 槟榔西施 (bīnláng xīshī). It refers to women selling betel nuts and cigarettes along the roads in Taiwan.
The betelnut beauty is usually half naked, waiting for customers in a small glass-fronted kiosk. It’s a very common sight in Taiwan.
Betel nuts (binlang in chinese) is popular among a certain population (truck drivers, taxi drivers, construction workers…). You chew it, spit the red juice and it makes you somehow stoned.

This film is, in my opinion, a very average drama, not the best film from director Cheng-sheng Lin. But its background shows a realistic image of Taipei’s street life.Read More »

Highly atmospheric Japanese horror. The premise: a blind woman regains sight through surgery but sees in the mirror, not her own reflection, but that of the dead woman whose corneas she has inherited.

Review
“The Eye” is a thriller about a blind young violinist from Hong Kong whose sight is restored through surgery, but who can then can see a little too well, so that she observes the Grim Reaper leading the doomed in solemn procession to the other side, and shares the anguish of the donor of her eyes. What’s more, she’s thrown out of the blind orchestra, now that she can see.Read More »