''Monga'' () is a 2010 Taiwanese

gangster film A gangster film or gangster movie is a film belonging to a genre that focuses on gangs and organized crime. It is a subgenre of crime film, that may involve large criminal organizations, or small gangs formed to perform a certain illegal act. Th ...

set in 1980s

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

. The film features

Ethan Juan Ethan Juan (, born 8 November 1982) is a Taiwanese actor and model. He rose to prominence with the television series '' Fated to Love You'' (2008). Juan won the Best Actor award at the 47th Golden Horse Awards for his role in '' Monga'' in 201 ...

Mark Chao Mark Chao (, born 25 September 1984) is a Taiwanese-Canadian actor and model. He made his television debut in the television series '' Black & White'' (2009), for which he won the Golden Bell Award for Best Actor. Since then, he has starred in fi ...

, Ma Ju-lung, Rhydian Vaughan and

Ko Chia-yen Ko Chia-yen (; born 10 January 1985), also known as Alice Ko, is a Taiwanese actress. Career Ko's debut acting role was in the 2006 film ''Do Over'', by award-winning director Cheng Yu-chieh. Subsequently, she had starring roles in the fil ...

. The film was directed and co-written by

Doze Niu Doze Niu (, also known as Niu Chen-zer; born June 22, 1966) is a Taiwanese actor, film director, show host, screenwriter, and producer. As a film director, he is best known for the Taiwanese film '' Monga''. Early life Niu was born in Taipei, ...

, who also appears in the film.Derek Elley
''Monga''
review at the ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' website. 13 February 2010. Retrieved 15 February 2010.James Topley
''Monga'' 艋舺
review at the ''

China Post China Post, legally the China Post Group Corporation ( zh, 中国邮政集团有限公司, Pinyin: ''Zhōngguó yóuzhèng jítuán yǒuxiàn gōngsī''), is the state-owned enterprise operating the official postal service of China, which provi ...

'' website. 5 February 2010. Retrieved 15 February 2010.

Plot

Monga (now known as

Wanhua District Wanhua District, known in Taiwanese Hokkien as Báng-kah khu and historically as "Monga" or "Monka", is a district in Taipei, Taiwan. It is Taipei's oldest district. The district is home to historic buildings such as the Bangka Lungshan Temple, ...

) is one of

's districts. Mosquito (

) and his friends have no illusions about the unwritten laws that prevail in this part of town: if you want to survive here, you've got to have the friends that make you stronger than your enemies. Mosquito (

), Monk (

), Dragon ( Rhydian Vaughan), Monkey (

Emerson Tsai Emerson Tsai (; born 2 August 1988) is a Taiwanese actor, television host and singer. He appeared on the third season of singing competition television series '' Super Idol'' in 2009, and came in eighth place. In 2010, Tsai made his acting debu ...

) and A-po (

Frankie Huang Brando Huang (; born 22 March 1981) is a Taiwanese actor and television host. Career Born in Huwei, Yunlin, Huang is originally an engineer at Hsinchu Science and Industrial Park, but had an interest in performing since young. Discovered by c ...

) are all members of the "Gang of Princes". Mosquito is invited to join the gang after standing up to – and holding his own against – a rival gang member who stole his chicken drumstick his first day at school in Monga. Mosquito soon begins to enjoy with his brother gangsters the lifestyle, and gains leadership over the "Gang of Princes," the influence of which dominates the streets of Monga. They are unaware that there are other rivals who are deeply jealous of their success, and the five's responses to antagonism that follows reflects their commitment to the code of brotherhood, but lack judgement, maturity, and the ever-important calculation required to balance power in gang leadership. Geta (Ma Ju-lung), one of Monga's old triad leaders (as well as Dragon's father), sees it as his duty to teach these cheeky young upstarts the true laws of gangsterdom. To accomplish this, while punishing them for their previous actions, Geta orders the seclusion of the five, as they undergo intense training according to the tradition and legacy handed down by the city's founders. The strict laws of a brotherhood, in which they should fight not just for territorial reasons, but also to protect their honor, impress most deeply on Mosquito. But even Geta has no inkling of the storm that is about to hit Monga – a storm that will destroy the town's traditional values and the vestiges of its glory. A new gang, bristling with an arsenal of handguns, is about to change forever the little world in which Geta and the "Gang of Princes" have made themselves at home, as cracks of a former betrayal come to light, widen, and result in conflicting loyalties that confuse the ties between gangsterdom and sworn brotherhood.

Cast

as Mosquito 周以文 (蚊子). *

as Monk * Rhydian Vaughan as Dragon Lee *

as A-po *

as Monkey * Ma Ju-lung as Boss Geta *

as Grey Wolf *

Wang Shih-hsien Wang Shih-hsien (; born 11 February 1968) is a Taiwanese singer and actor. Career As a singer, Wang won Best Taiwanese language performer at the 16th Golden Melody Awards. Wang has been nominated multiple times, including in 2008 and 2011, w ...

as Wim-kian *

as Ning * Chen Han-dian as Dog boy * Bamboo Chen as Geta's assistant

Production

Filming

''Monga'' is set in mid-1980s in Wanhua (萬華) (in Basay language, ''Bangka''; in

Taiwanese Hokkien Taiwanese Hokkien () (; Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-uân-uē''), also known as Taigi/Taigu (; Pe̍h-ōe-jī/ Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-gí / Tâi-gú''), Taiwanese, Taiwanese Minnan, Hoklo and Holo, is a variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively by about ...

, ''Báng-kah'', 艋舺) of Lungshan District, Taipei City (臺北市龍山區) for which it is named. The movie was filmed on location and landmarks such as

Bangka Qingshui Temple The Qingshui Temple (; Chingshui Temple) also known as ''Tsushih Temple'' or the "''Divine Progenitors Temple''" is a temple in dedicated to the Deity known as Master Qingshui, a Northern Song dynasty Buddhist monk who is said to have saved a t ...

(艋舺清水巖),

Bangka Lungshan Temple Bangka Lungshan Temple (also Lungshan Temple of Manka, Mengjia Longshan Temple) is a Chinese folk religious temple in Wanhua District (alternately known as Bangka/Mengjia), Taipei, Taiwan. The temple was built in Taipei in 1738 by settlers from ...

(艋舺龍山寺), Snake Alley (華西街夜市), Bopiliao (剝皮寮) and

Ximending Ximending (sometimes Hsimenting, ; Tâi-lô: Se-mn̂g-ting; Japanese Romaji: ) is a neighborhood and shopping district in the Wanhua District of Taipei, Taiwan, along with its main rival, the Eastern District of Taipei. Overview Ximending has ...

(西門町) appear in the film.

Music

The majority of the film's original score was composed by Sandee Chan, a Taiwanese singer-songwriter. The theme song of the film is "

Making Love Out of Nothing at All "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" is a power ballad written and composed by Jim Steinman and first released by Australian soft rock band Air Supply for their 1983 compilation album ''Greatest Hits''. It reached number 2 on the U.S. ''Billboa ...

" by Nicky Lee ( 李玖哲). It was originally performed by

Air Supply Air Supply is a soft rock duo formed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1975. It consists of Englishman Graham Russell (vocals, guitar) and Australian Russell Hitchcock (vocals). They had a succession of hits worldwide, including eight top-five hi ...

Release

''Monga'' premiered at the

60th Berlin International Film Festival The 60th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 11 to 21 February 2010, with Werner Herzog as President of the Jury. The opening film of the festival was Chinese director Wang Quan'an's romantic drama '' Apart Together'', in com ...

on 29 January 2010, in the Panorama section. The film opened in Taiwan on 5 February 2010, and grossed NT$8.31 million (US$260,000) on its opening day and NT$59.32 million (US$1.85 million) on its opening week, ranking above worldwide hit ''

Avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...

'' on the box-office charts."'Monga' beats 'Avatar' on first-day gross."
Central News Agency article at Focus Taiwan News Channel website. 8 February 2010. Retrieved 15 February 2010. '' China Daily'' placed the film on their list of the best ten Chinese films of 2010.

Awards and nominations

*2010

Taipei Film Awards The Taipei Film Awards () are given by the Taipei Film Festival The Taipei Film Festival (TFF; ) is a film festival promoted by the city of Taipei, Taiwan, through the Department of Cultural Affairs of the Taipei City Government. It was first ...

Won: Best Art Direction Won: Best New Actor (

) Nominated: Best actor (

and

) Nominated: The Grand Prize *2010 54th

Asia-Pacific Film Festival The Asia-Pacific Film Festival (abbreviated APFF) is an annual film festival hosted by the Federation of Motion Picture Producers in Asia-Pacific. The festival was first held in Tokyo, Japan, in 1954. History The festival was first held in Toky ...

Nominated: Best Actor (

) *2010

Hawaii International Film Festival The Hawai'i International Film Festival (HIFF) is an annual film festival held in the United States state of Hawaii. HIFF has a focus on Asian-Pacific cinema, education, and the work of new and emerging filmmakers. HIFF’s primary festival is ...

Won: Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema Award *2010

Tokyo International Film Festival The is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biennially from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter. Along with the Shanghai International Film Festival, it is one of Asia's competitive film festivals, and is considered to be t ...

Nominated: Best Asian-Middle Eastern Film Award *2010

Stockholm International Film Festival The Stockholm International Film Festival ( sv, Stockholms filmfestival, italic=no) is an annual film festival held in Stockholm, Sweden. It was launched in 1990 and has been held every year since then during the second half of November. The w ...

Won: Telia Film Award *2010

Golden Horse Awards The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards () is a film festival and awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. It was founded in 1962 by the Government Information Office of the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan. The awards ceremony is u ...

Won: Best Leading Actor (

) Won: The Outstanding Taiwanese Filmmaker of the Year ( Lee Lieh) Won: Best Sound Effects Nominated: Best Original Film Score ( Sandee Chan) Nominated: Best Art Direction Nominated: The Outstanding Taiwanese Filmmaker of the Year (

) *2011 5th Asian Film Awards Won: Best New Actor (

) *2011 11th

Chinese Film Media Awards Chinese Film Media Awards (华语电影传媒大奖) are presented by ''Southern Metropolis Daily'' annually to honor excellence in Chinese-language cinema. Though based in mainland China, the awards are open to Chinese-language films from Hong Kong ...

Nominated: Best New Actor (

) The film was selected as the Taiwanese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the

83rd Academy Awards The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2010 in the United States and took place on February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beg ...

but it did not make the final shortlist.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Monga 2010 films Films set in the 1980s Films set in Taiwan Taiwanese crime drama films Taiwanese-language films Films directed by Doze Niu Gangster films Triad films 2010s Mandarin-language films 2010s Hong Kong films