A City of Sadness (Hou, 1989): Garden Cinema, 8pm
This film, part of the Taiwanese Cinema: Now and Then 2025 season, will feature a pre-recorded introductions from Tony Rayns.Chicago Reader review:
This
beautiful family saga by the great Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien
begins in 1945, when Japan ended its 51-year colonial rule in Taiwan,
and concludes in 1949, when mainland China became communist and Chiang
Kai-shek's government retreated to Taipei. Perceiving these historical
upheavals through the varied lives of a single family, Hou proves
himself a master of long takes and complex framing, with a great talent
for passionate (though elliptical and distanced) storytelling. Given the
diverse languages and dialects spoken here (including the language of a
deaf-mute, rendered in intertitles), this 1989 drama is largely a
meditation on communication itself, and appropriately enough it was the
first Taiwanese film to use direct sound. It's also one of the supreme
masterworks of the contemporary cinema, the first feature of Hou's
magisterial trilogy (followed by The Puppet Master and Good Men, Good Women) about Taiwan during the 20th century.
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Here (and above) is the trailer.
No comments:
Post a Comment