Drama · History
Taiwanese (悲情城市)
1989 · Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien · 158 min
Taiwan, 1945 to 1949. As Japanese colonial rule ends and a new government arrives from mainland China, the four sons of a Keelung family are pulled in different directions. Hou Hsiao-hsien tells the national upheaval through meals, rooms and long, patient shots.
Why it matters in cinema history
A defining film of Taiwanese New Cinema and of 1980s world art cinema. It showed that a historical epic could be built from long takes and understatement instead of spectacle.
Watch with intention
Watch it as history seen from inside one house, where large events arrive only as news, rumours and consequences.
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