Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien

Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien

5 Episodes

With their hypnotic long takes and elliptical narrative structures, the dreamily enveloping films of Taiwanese cinema titan Hou Hsiao-hsien seem to reshape the rules of time, drifting languorously through the ever-changing sociopolitical realities of Taiwan past and present. Beginning his career with the charming, commercial romantic comedies CUTE GIRL and THE GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF HOME, he came into his own with his fourth feature, the poignant, more naturalistic coming-of-age drama THE BOYS FROM FENGKUEI. With later triumphs like FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI and MILLENNIUM MAMBO—sublimely sensorial reflections on the passage of history at the end of the nineteenth and dawn of the twenty-first centuries, respectively—Hou firmly established himself as one of world cinema’s foremost masters, capable of rendering profound emotional states with the subtlest of strokes.

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Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien

5 Episodes

  • Millennium Mambo
    1:45:53
    Millennium Mambo
    Episode 1

    Millennium Mambo

    Episode 1

    Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien • 2001 • Taiwan
    Starring Shu Qi, Jack Kao, Duan Chun-hao

    Hou Hsiao-hsien’s neon-splashed reverie is a dreamlike drift through the night world of early-2000s Taipei. From the year 2011, the wayward Vicky (Shu Qi)—a bar hostess caught between a jealously possessive boyf...

  • Flowers of Shanghai
    1:54:18
    Flowers of Shanghai
    Episode 2

    Flowers of Shanghai

    Episode 2

    Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien • 1998 • Taiwan
    Starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Michiko Hada, Annie Shizuka Inoh

    An intoxicating, time-bending experience bathed in the golden glow of oil lamps and wreathed in an opium haze, this gorgeous period reverie by Hou Hsiao-hsien traces the romantic intrigue, ...

  • Cute Girl
    1:29:45
    Cute Girl
    Episode 3

    Cute Girl

    Episode 3

    Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien • 1980 • Taiwan
    Starring Kenny Bee, Anthony Chan Yau, Chang Ping-Yu

    One of the great poets of modern cinema, Hou Hsiao-hsien, made his feature debut with this sweet and lighthearted romantic comedy. Pop star Kenny Bee plays the poor city boy who, while working as an e...

  • The Boys from Fengkuei
    1:39:57
    The Boys from Fengkuei
    Episode 4

    The Boys from Fengkuei

    Episode 4

    Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien • 1983 • Taiwan
    Starring Doze Niu Cheng-Tse, Zhang Shi, Lin Hsiu-Ling

    THE BOYS FROM FENGKUEI was Hou Hsiao-hsien’s fourth film as director, but in many ways it can be viewed as his first mature work—the one in which he moved away from commercial comedies toward a more...

  • The Green, Green Grass of Home
    1:31:05
    The Green, Green Grass of Home
    Episode 5

    The Green, Green Grass of Home

    Episode 5

    Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien • 1982 • Taiwan
    Starring Kenny Bee, Meifeng Chen, Jing-kuo Yen

    Hou Hsiao-hsien’s third feature finds him on the cusp of developing his mature style, sharpening his powers of human observation in a charming look at rural-urban culture clash.Kenny Bee plays a schoolteac...

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