Oscar nominees - short documentary
Do you want to get interested in this year's Academy Awards but you don't have the time to watch a bunch of super long movies? You’re in luck because the five nominees in the short documentary category are all available to watch online. You can watch all five and get super invested in who wins this category
( Read more... )
Island In Between surprised me a little bit in being rather pro-China coming from a Taiwanese film maker. I understand he spent time in China and the identity politics on Kinmen are also rather nuanced since the residents actually feel some tension identifying as Taiwanese but he framed it as “Reunification” at one point which felt odd to me (I’m also going to be biased so take this commentary with a grain of salt). Ultimately, I think he could have done a better job distinguishing the Chinese citizens from the government who is creating a lot of the tension. The scenes of Taiwan gave me a lot of nostalgia
I wanted to like Nainai and Wai Po more than I actually did. It is very cute and the subjects are obviously quite charming but I couldn’t really tell what the point of the film was. I wish he had explored more the nuances of aging and the way that impacts relationships (it’s touched upon a little with the Nainai mentioning her friends have all passed away and she isn’t afraid of death), how they became close and came to live together or even explored his relationship with both of them. It felt a little contrived since some of the scenes felt engineered and not actually reflective of how they live their lives. I did love the little side quip that closed the film as he left though since it reminded me of my own grandmother
Reply
Leave a comment