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Hou Hsiao-hsien |
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Director / Screenwriter |
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1947 - |
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Born April 8,
Meixian, Guangdong, China |
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Key
Production Countries: Taiwan, France |
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Key Genres:
Drama, Family Drama, Period Film, Coming-of-Age, Romantic Drama |
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Key
Collaborators: Tien-wen
Chu
(Screenwriter), Pin
Bing Lee (Cinematographer), Ching-Song
Liao (Editor), Wen-Ying Huang (Production Designer/Producer),Jack Kao
(Leading Player), Tianlu Li (Leading Player), Annie Shizuka Inoh (Leading Player),
Shozo Ichiyama (Producer), Nien-Jen Wu (Screenwriter), Giong Lim (Leading Character Player/Composer) |
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Highly Recommended:
A
City of Sadness (1989)* |
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Recommended:
The Boys from Fengkuei (1983), The
Time to Live and the Time to Die (1985)*, Dust in the Wind (1987), The Puppetmaster (1993)*, Flowers of Shanghai (1998)*, Café Lumière (2003)^, Three
Times (2005)^, Flight of the Red Balloon (2007)^ |
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Worth a Look: A
Summer at Grandpa's (1984), Good Men, Good Women (1995), Goodbye South,
Goodbye (1996), Millennium Mambo (2001) |
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* Listed in TSPDT's
1,000 Greatest Films
section; ^
Listed in TSPDT's
21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films
section. |
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Links:
[
Amazon
] [
IMDB ] [
TCMDB ] [
All-Movie
Guide ] [
Film Reference ]
[
Strictly
Film School ] [
Guardian Unlimited Interview (2005) ] [
Wikipedia ] [
Senses
of Cinema Article ] [
Senses of Cinema Feature (2006) ] [
Sight & Sound Article (2006) ]
[
Film Comment
Article (1999) ] [
Cinetext Essay (2003) ] [
China Through a
Lens Profile ] [
Reverse Shot Feature (2008)
] |
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Books:
[
Hou Hsiao-hsien ] [
Toward a Semiotics of Chinese Cinema (Jinquan Hu, Hou Hsiao-hsien)
] |
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"His
contemplative style is at times reminiscent of
Ozu, with its generally static
camera and simple compositions (though he usually favours far
longer takes), and his early films likewise portray tensions in
the family... Hou's quiet, impressionistic narratives build
steadily to an emotional pay-off that is often devastating when
it finally comes." -
Geoff
Andrew (The Director's Vision, 1999) |
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"Hou is an
extraordinary director - gentle, reflective, beautifully
composed, inclined to hold his shots in space and duration. He
exemplifies that natural, fluent style that unites so many of
the most thoughtful directors. I urge any reader to seek out his
work, in whatever form it can be found." -
David
Thomson (The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, 2002)
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"Hou
Hsiao-hsien is the most internationally renowned of the
filmmakers associated with Taiwan's "New Cinema" movement. The
"New Cinema" was forged out of the country's aging industry in
the early 1980s by a group of emerging filmmakers, most of whom
were in their early thirties at the time... Hou's achievement is
not only in his cinematic sensitivities but also in his social
consciousness. As much as he is a filmmaker, Hou is a historical
and social commentator of the first order.." -
Vivian Huang (International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers,
1991) |
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"You have to find
the right way to approach the right subject for yourself. No one
can do that for you. You may not be aware of your great
potentiality. You do not need to make films that we think are
proper, or feel compelled to make certain kinds of films because
they have been praised or recognised. Never let yourself be tied
up by these thoughts. Be creative and unpredictable for every
film you make. That’s best. This is all I want to say." -
Hou Hsiao-hsien, Rouge, 2003 |
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Please
note that the rating given for this director (see top-right) is based
only on the films we have seen (listed above). Films by this director
that we haven't seen include Son's Big Doll (1983). |
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"Hou
Hsiao-hsien is frequently heralded as one of the premier
auteurs of the Taiwanese New Wave. His work engages themes
of political, cultural, and personal transition , frequently
through oblique narratives grounded upon generational
conflicts. Like the films of
Yasujiro Ozu,
Hou's minimalist yet meticulous mise-en-scène depicts not
only life's seemingly insignificant details, but the impact
of time and light upon the understanding of character and
history... A hugely talented visionary, Hou is one of the
greatest storytellers of this, or any, age."
-
Jay McRoy, 501
Movie Directors: A Comprehensive Guide to the Greatest
Filmmakers |
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●
Top 250 Directors |
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21st Century Top
50 |
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Ranked 15th on Film Comment's list of the 25 Best
Directors of the Decade (2000-2009) |
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One
of the twelve greatest living narrative filmmakers - Jonathan
Rosenbaum (Placing Movies: The Practice of Film Criticism, 1993) |
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●
501 Movie Directors: A
Comprehensive Guide to the Greatest Filmmakers |
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Kent Jones' Top 10 Directors |
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See Also |
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●
Robert Bresson |
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Im
Kwon-Taek |
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Stanley Kwan |
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Lou Ye |
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Kenji Mizoguchi |
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Yasujiro Ozu |
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Hiroshi Shimizu |
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Tian Zhuangzhuang |
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Tran
Anh Hung |
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Wong Kar-wai |
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Edward Yang |
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Zhang Yimou |
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Hou Hsiao-hsien's Favourites |
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Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972)
Werner Herzog,
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)
Rainer Werner
Fassbinder,
Amarcord (1973)
Federico Fellini,
Breathless (1960)
Jean-Luc Godard,
Distant Thunder (1973)
Satyajit Ray,
Floating Clouds (1955)
Mikio Naruse,
The Godfather (1972)
Francis Ford
Coppola,
Kings of the Road (1976)
Wim Wenders,
A Short Film About Love (1988)
Krszystof
Kieslowski,
Tokyo Story (1953)
Yasujiro Ozu.
Source:
Sight & Sound
(1992) |
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