Hou hsiao hsien biography of alberta

His compositions are decentered, and links between shots do not adhere to an obvious temporal or causal narrative logic. Without abandoning his famous austerity, his imagery has developed a sensual beauty during the s, partly under the influence of his collaboration with cinematographer Mark Lee Ping-bing. He has also cast revered puppeteer Li Tian-lu as an actor in several of his movies, most notably The Puppetmasterwhich is based on Li's life.

Six of his films to date have been nominated for the Palme d'Or best film award at the Cannes Film Festival. Hou was voted "Director of the Decade" for the s in a poll of American and international critics put together by The Village Voice and Film Comment. He contributed two songs to the soundtrack of Dust of Angelsa film he produced. The film deals with themes reminiscent of Ozu—tensions between parents and children and between tradition and modernity—in Hou's typically indirect manner.

His film Three Times features three stories of love set inand using the same actors, Shu Qi and Chang Chen. In AugustHou embarked on his first Western project. Filmed and financed entirely in France, Flight of the Red Balloon is the story of a French family as seen through the eyes of a Chinese student. Hou has also had some acting experience, appearing as the lead in fellow Taiwanese New Wave auteur Edward Yang 's film Taipei Story.

He starred as Lung, a former minor league baseball star who is stuck operating an old-style fabric business, hou hsiao hsien biography of alberta for his past days of glory. Lung becomes alienated from his girlfriend and tries to find his way in Taipei. Hou also had a small role in the Chinese comedy-drama film Young Styleabout a group of teenagers in high school.

Prior to his retirement, Hou directed a total of 18 feature films, and three short film segments of omnibus films, which leads to a total of 21 films. Out of the 21 films he has directed, he has written or co-written 11 of those films in addition to writing or co-writing 10 other films directed by other filmmakers, including Taipei Story Dir.

Edward YangHeartbreak Island Dir. Kun Hao Chen. Hou's first film as a director, as well as writer, was Cute Girl or Lovable Youa relatively formulaic romantic comedy prevalent in Taiwan at the time starring Kenny BeeAnthony Chan and Feng Fei-fei. Although the film was shot in a more commercial style unlike his later work, film critic and writer David Bordwell stated that Cute Girl and the rest of Hou's early films "show [Hou] developing, in almost casual ways, techniques of staging and shooting that will become his artistic hallmarks.

Hou's third feature film which he both directed and wrote was The Green, Green Grass of Home Zai na he pan qing cao qingwhich also starred Kenny Bee from his previous two films but also a set of new actors that Hou previously did not work with before, including child actor at the time Chou Pin-chunwho won a Best Child Star award from the Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards for his performance in the film.

They decide to go to the port city of Kaohsiung to look for work, where Ah-Ching falls in love with a girlfriend of a neighbor. The film is also about how the teenagers face the realities of urban life as they come of age. Hou's eighth feature film concerns the story of a girl played by Taiwanese pop star Lin Yang who works at a Kentucky Fried Chicken location in Taipei to support her family, which includes a brother character played by Jack Kao who is involved in crime and gangs.

The title is also a reference to a character in the Japanese manga Crest of the Royal Family who is referred to as the "Daughter of the Nile. Hou's ninth feature film was almost universally acclaimed by film critics as a masterpiece upon its release. It is also the very first film to openly deal with the authoritarian rule of the Kuomintang KMT after taking Taiwan over from the Japanese in following WWII, and the tragic February 28 Incidentwhere thousands of Taiwanese citizens were killed.

The film was also Taiwan's Best Foreign Language Film entry for the 62nd Academy Awards, but it did not make the final nomination shortlist. Starring Tony Leung Chiu-Wai as the deaf-mute but all-seeing Wen-ching and his older brother Wen-leung Jack Kaothe film dealt with political subject matter involving the February 28 Incident and the " White Terror " era where countless Taiwanese citizens were incarcerated and shot by the KMT government in the late s after their displacement from China to Taiwan after the Civil War of Hou's tenth film was The Puppetmastera sprawling half-documentary, half-narrative film hybrid that told the story of Li Tian-luthe most celebrated puppeteer in Taiwan.

Hou's eleventh film was a post-modern time-jumping and fourth-wall breaking narrative that jumped between the modern-day life of an actress named Liang Ching played by Annie Shizukah Inoh and the historical role of Chiang Bi-Yu, who she was portraying in a s period piece film. Jack Kao also appeared as her boyfriend, Ah-Wei. Hou's thirteenth film, Flowers of Shanghaiwould see him reunite with actor Tony Leung Chiu-Wai from A City of Sadness as well as Jack Kaoand was a period piece set in the elegant brothels also known as "flower houses" of s Shanghai.

Millennium Mambo was Hou's fourteenth film and the film that marked his first collaboration with actress Shu Qiwho would later go on to appear in three other of Hou's later films and become his muse. The film follows Shu as a character named Vicky, who looks back ten years to when she was in a relationship with Hao-Hao Duan Chun-hao where she is now in a relationship with Jack Jack Kao.

It is also his sixteenth film, and weaves together three separate stories that describe the relationship of a couple played by Shu and Chang during three separate time periods: 1 "A Time for Love" set in Kaohsiung ; 2 "A Time for Freedom" set in Dadaocheng ; and 3 "A Time for Youth" set in Taipei. Louis Film Critics Association Awards.

Hou hsiao hsien biography of alberta

Hou's seventeenth film and first "foreign language" film which featured dialogue in both French and Mandarin was Flight of the Red Balloon French: "Le voyage du ballon rouge"which starred acclaimed French actress Juliette BinocheHippolyte GirardotFang Song and others. Furthermore, the film won Best Film and Best Director awards in an Indiewire Critics' Poll taken inwhich ranked Binoche's performance in the film the 5th best one of that year and in a Village Voice Film Poll taken the same year, the film won 2nd place for Best Film and 3rd place for Best Actress Binoche.

This wealth comes from his successful career in filmmaking, as well as from various endorsements and investments. Hou Hsiao-hsien's contributions to Taiwanese cinema have been immeasurable. His films have inspired countless filmmakers around the world and have helped put Taiwanese cinema on the map. He is widely regarded as a master of his craft and continues to be a major influence in the world of cinema.

In conclusion, Hou Hsiao-hsien is a true visionary whose work will continue to be celebrated for generations to come. His unique storytelling style and artistic vision have left an indelible mark on the world of cinema, making him one of the most important filmmakers of our time. Skip to content. On the island fishing settlement of Fengkuei, Taiwan, waves crash against rusted boats on the shore while ramshackle homes crumble into the chipped concrete streets.

Boys will be boys, even in Fengkuei — and so the four young lads who lead this coming-of-age drama revel as they tear up the roads on mopeds, get into scuffles with bigger boys, and chat-up girls on the beach. But opportunities beyond such fun and games are limited at home — so the boys eventually set sail for the port city of Kaohsiung in search of work.

Displaced and alienated, the boys struggle to set themselves on the path towards a stable adulthood. But Daughter of the Nile took a step away from the biographical and autobiographical works that had preceded it, as the director sought to instead explore the inherent concerns of young people growing up in then-contemporary Taiwan. Against a backdrop of modern, synthesised Chinese pop music, pop singer Lin Yang plays Lin Hsiao-yang, an honest young woman in a mismatched family, living on the edge of a fast-changing Taipei.

Her brother, meanwhile, is a gambling street hoodlum evading armed thugs in a city where profit and prosperity has become the arch motive of those stimulating its evolution. In spite of the conducive setting, Flowers of Shanghai is a film almost entirely absent of sex and fornication, with the focus applied instead to the complex emotional links binding men and women.

Lupke, Christopher. Lupke, Christopher, ed. New Perspectives on Contemporary Chinese Poetry. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Leiden and Boston: Brill Press, A New History of Modern China. New York: Columbia University Press, Blackwell Publishers. Seven Pages. Sang, eds.