lasttimeisaw Taiwanese actor-turned-director Doze Niu's second feature film, MONGA is a local box-office knockout at the turn of 21st-century's second decade, notably for humbling the juggernaut AVATAR (2009) upon its release (grossed more than $8 millions, it is a humongous number for the itty-bitty island). Niu's film smartly harks back to the indigenous gangster counter-culture in the 1980s which is left with an indelible mark by auteur names like Edward Yang and Hou Hsiao-hsien, it takes place in the Monga ("Monga" means "little boat" in tribal dialect, it is today's Wanhua, Taipei's oldest district), local gangsters are safeguarding their respective turfs where street vendors, temples, brothels and their patrons are among the hustle and bustle peopled within the mazy, narrow alleys. A 17-year-old Mosquito (Mark Chao in his star-making movie debut) moves to Monga with his single mother (Lin Hsiu-ling), bullied by classmates in the school, he is recruited to the "Gang of Princes" as their fifth member, nominally lead by Dragon (Vaughn), the son of the triad leader Geta (Ma Ju-lung), but the real savvy one is the consigliere Monk (Ethan Ruan), whose devotion to Dragon roundly surpasses the usual purview of scorned brotherhood, and Niu acutely channels the tangible bromance into the narrative but camouflaged as a brotherly friendship, and leaves the signals hither and thither without asserting the obvious. Monk, as his name suggests, is the only one who shuns the brothel, but through his intimate interaction with Dragon, and the benign gestures with Mosquito, we don't need to be spoon-fed to understand what is his deal. Genre tropes start to encroach the gleeful tone when the quintet comes in for the usual hiccups, from a vapid girlfriend squabble, to a vengeful act (with super-glue) goes awry, until the impending annexing bid from a main-lander Grey Wolf (Niu himself, exuding understated menace but doesn't hog the spotlight by dint of his directorial clout), power-usurping is in the pipeline and assassinations begin to pick off the old-guards, which are designed in a cavalier fashion and to some degree distracts viewers from taking its graveness seriously. But a pivotal reveal portents the disintegration of their bond which will be topped off by blood-spilling fratricide, which also flags up Niu's penchant for over-egging the pudding with wordy elaboration albeit the stylish visual artistry (blood morphing into cherry blossom is a nice wrinkle).The central young cast is gratuitously photogenic and Mark Chao comes off as slightly stilted but acquits himself in Mosquito's greenness and the consequential disillusion. But the showstopper without any doubt is Ethan Ruan, who won a coveted BEST LEADING ACTOR trophy in the Golden Horse Awards, which is the most prestigious recognition from pan-Chinese cinema. His endeavor impresses with both physical exertion and copious pathos. In the main, MONGA breezes a bracing air into the teen-gangster genre, which usually entails a veto of a mainland China release due to its unlawful subjects, and subsists its ethnographic mark remarkably.

donald_500 There is nothing wrong with the story board…a young man got bullied in school and eventually join the gang to protect himself. And then it's the story of his gangster life, brother hood, betrayal, woman… The director try to put the message into the movie through the story, however I don't feel the message comes solid and the it ends up just become a slogan with no meaning. Another thing I don't feel comfortable with the movie is…the costume. To me, the people are more like 60's to 70's dressed. You know… the bell bottom, the skinny shirt, the flower print…. This is nothing reminds me the 80's! Well I ain't no Taiwanese and I don't know the fashion sense in Taiwan in 80's. Maybe was like this there. In conclusion, the story goes smooth but somehow the core message is missing (very weak) and the costume which really confuse you the era takes place.

yl480 Monga is directed by Niu Chenze from Taiwan in 2010. This film is based on the mid-1980s in Taiwan as a background. The film related to five young teenagers who just out of school and the experiences of entry the gangsterdom (heishehui). The entire film revolves around brotherhood, interests, fight and conspiracy to develop the story plot. The genre of this film is drama. The story start in Taiwan that a place called Manga. A young boy, Zhouyiwen or mosquito, he was a timidity and kind boy; he has been bullied by others since he was little. He has not a father. Because of a drumstick, he met a several young people who living the gangster life. Also because of a drumstick he began his gangster life. They set up a group called Prince Gang. They often fight on the street, visits brothel and receive protection fees from others. As result of Li Zhilong's father, Geta, is a boss of Temple Front, no one can bully them. As the resentment of elder, they involved in that. Conflict and betrayal leads to them killing each other finally.I want to analyze two character mosquito and Heshang.The lead character, after met his four buddies, and he thought his life has meaningful suddenly. He thought they save his soul and brought a new world for him. In the film, there are have a one scene that is, when they climbed the wall and play truant go to outside, mosquito looked back and without hesitation to jumped the wall. I t seems tell us he wants to say goodbye to his past. This is my favorite place. He just knows the brotherhood is very important to him. He thought His buddies like his brother. Because of them, his life was becoming exciting even leave school he felt not matter. They protected him at school and celebrate his birthday. They help each other, they together do everything. All this, he was deeply moved by them. Compared with them, he is more innocent and kind. He is more like a follower. Just like the lines of film, "the grass flutters in the same direction as the wind blows". From this movie we can clearly see that mosquito aspires to paternal love. He was very envy Zhilong has a good father, he saw zhilong with his father sang a song together affectionate, he was touched by this scene. He cried, he hopes he was Zhilong and Geta was his father. Actually, in his heart, he has been thought Geta was his father. At the Temple Front, he saw Geta lying in the pool of blood, he was collapsed. After Geta dead, he replaced Zhilong attended the funeral. These evidences reflect mosquito was much respected Geta although his emotion was humble. He fell in love with Xiaoning, a hooker; he thought he could tell everything to Xiaoning. Particularly, he discovered the real gangster life is terrible, and the cruel ways of punish to others lead to him felt fear and thought of her as refuge.The other lead character, Heshang, he was clever, he and Zhilong grew up together, , they have exceeded the feelings between brothers. He knew his father's hand was cut off by Geta, he decided to revenged. At the same time, his heart was extremely contradictory. In the movie, when he found the missing Zhilong, he embraced him tightly, and he recalled the picture that he killed the Geta. He burst into tears loudly. He was much regretted. All the remorse in his mind is vent out in this moment. In the film's final, he chose to believe mosquito. Like mosquito said "you thought you goof the gangster life, in fact you goof the friendship and brotherhood". In fact, all of them are not had gangster life, they trust each other and not leave each other. Heshang's confusion, helplessness, sadness, and contradiction also are represents the other four. In this film, there are two lines repeated several times. "I only heard of brotherhood, never heard of meaning". And "If you don't killed them up today, once day you'll be killed". I think these two lines are influences them deeply.In this movie, there are two key points which are yo-yo and Sakura. They appeared many times in this movie. Heshang gave the new yo-yo to mosquito; mosquito was moved and takes this everywhere. He often plays yo-yo, Heshang was wounded, he sat on one side and holds yo-yo until he fell asleep. Mosquito make a nightmare, when he woke up the yo-yo on his pillow. They sat on the dam, the yo-yo issued weak light. In the end, mosquito use the line wanted to kill Heshang. It can be said, this yo-yo is witness their friendship breakdown. The other thing is Sakura, the combination of Sakura and blood is special point in the film. Progress to the end of the film, Heshang's blood spatter in the air and becomes the Sakura, this is mosquito always dreamed of seeing.All the character describing is based the story line, on that way; the story has already reflected the characters' temperament, experience, emotion. In addition, this film has well reflects the characteristics of Taiwan's local, exaggerated bright clothes, the Taiwan dialect and some lifestyle about Taiwan. Meanwhile, also reflects their idea is not very open and feudal, because they think the gun is evil and not accept the new culture. The film uses slow motion and soft music to balance the fight scenes, especially, five teenagers caused the fighting of all turfs in Monga.Overall, Monga has a very strong emotional color. This story is sad and dreary, everyone lose their important emotion. They never have gangster life, they just through the brotherhood to burning their life. This is the confusion of puberty and the pressure of real life to give a special significance.

peachies So this was the hottest flick in Taiwan after it came out, overthrowing Avatar's reign at the box office. After hearing so much about it, I had to go see it... and it was quite good. I have to honestly say I wasn't really expecting too much based on Taiwanese films I'd seen before (disclaimer: I actually haven't seen very much), but this one is very well made, has a great story, and the actors are pretty hot... Takeshi Kaneshiro, watch out!In short, it's about a place called Monga, which I have learned was a port where many mainlanders entered Taiwan from back in the day. In this film, the story takes place in the '70s and '80s and is about a group of friends, part of the Temple Front gang. The narrator of the story, Mosquito (Mark Chao), is invited to be a part of the gang after a silly fight with members of another gang, the Back Alley. Mosquito has grown up without a father and has never had any real friends, so after Monk (Ethan Ruan) and the others take him under their wing, he fully embraces the new lifestyle and there's no turning back. The story has a number of heart-wrenching twists and while it is a drama, there's also a lot of humor which I loved. In the end, it all comes down to the characters trying to balance the harsh realities of a violent gangster life with the honor of friendship and brotherhood.I have no idea when the film will be hitting the U.S., but it has a promising future as it's totally something fresh out of the Taiwanese film industry. As they would say in Taiwan, this film is 紅 ("hong") or red... meaning it's hot!Overall thoughts: Strong acting, engaging story, and a good film to watch with a group of friends!