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, jealousies, and tensions swirling around four late-nineteenth-century Shanghai “flower houses,” where courtesans live confined to a gilded cage, ensconced in opulent splendor but forced to work to buy back their freedom. Among the regular clients is the taciturn Master Wang (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), whose relationship with his longtime mistress (Michiko Hada) is roiled by a perceived act of betrayal. Composed in a languorous procession of entrancing long takes, FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI evokes a vanished world of decadence and cruelty, an insular universe where much of the dramatic action remains tantalizingly offscreen—even as its emotional fallout registers with quiet devastation.
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Cute Girl
Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien • 1980 • Taiwan
Starring Kenny Bee, Anthony Chan Yau, Chang Ping-YuOne 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...
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The Boys from Fengkuei
Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien • 1983 • Taiwan
Starring Doze Niu Cheng-Tse, Zhang Shi, Lin Hsiu-LingTHE 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...
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The Green, Green Grass of Home
Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien • 1982 • Taiwan
Starring Kenny Bee, Meifeng Chen, Jing-kuo YenHou 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...
