Who’ll Stop the Rain? [青春並不溫柔] (2023)

Set in 1994, seven years after the removal of martial law and during the democratisation of Taiwan. Student Chi-wei [Lily Lee aka Lee Ling-Wei, Detention] comes to Taiwan to study in the university fine arts department. She discovers that the authoritarian practices of the old regime still exist in the university. (Though current struggles in…

The Woman of Wrath [殺夫] (1986)

Far East Film Festival 26 A scathing picture of rural life and patriarchy in 1960s Taiwan based on a book by Li Ang. FEFF showed a restored version of this 1980s movie which was much more interesting than most of the contemporary Chinese films on view. The film opens with a flashback in black and…

Trouble Girl [小曉] (2023)

Far East Film Festival 26 Excellent film about an issue rarely addressed in Chinese cinema. In broad terms, real life and, more narrowly, the issues facing a neurodiverse child and her parents and acquaintances. Xiao-xiao [brilliant performance by Audrey Lin] is a 12 year old neurodiverse child with sometimes challenging behaviour. Her mother Wei-fang [Ivy…

Tales of Taipei [愛情城事] (2023)

Far East Film Festival 26 This omnibus movie consists of ten segments in a wide range of genres, five from Taiwanese directors and five from directors from other countries all telling stories based in Taipei. It involves tales in a wide range of genres loosely linked by the presence of a newspaper delivery man played…

Jade Love [玉卿嫂] (1984)

The film opens in southern China (Guiling in Guanxi province) during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. Little Rongrong is the ten-year-old son of a wealthy household led by Commander Lee. He's a spoiled young boy but neglected by his parents. In this case, he is upset because his beloved nanny has left but…

Ah Fei [油麻菜籽] (1984)

A Woman's fortune is like rapeseed, it will grow wherever it falls. Despite being directed by Wan Jen and co-written by Hou Hsiao-Hsien, this film is a rather standard melodrama. The co-writer was Liao Hui-ying adapted from her own novel. Ah Hui* is the middle daughter in an unhappy family. Her mother Hsin-chin [Chen Chiu-Yen],…

The Boys from Fengkuei [風櫃來的人] (1983)

The Boys from Fengkuei ('people' from Fengkuei in Chinese) is one of the first full features of Taiwan New Cinema and is much more impressive than the two earlier portmanteau films (see previous posts) notwithstanding their merits. This was director Hou Hsiao-hsien's fourth feature with cinematography by Chen Kun-Hou and screenplay by Chu Tien-wen (director…

Growing Up [小畢的故事] (1983)

Growing Up (The Story of Xiao Bi in Chinese) - released in January 1983 - is perhaps the first feature of Taiwan New Cinema, ahead of Hou Hsiao-Hsien's Boys from Fengkuei released later that year. It won Best Picture and Best Director at the Golden Horse Awards.  Director Chen Kun-hou, like Hou, had alread directed…

The Sandwich Man [兒子的大玩偶] (1983)

A second portmanteau film also seen as marking the beginning of the Taiwan New Cinema. This film consists of three segments directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien, Tsang Jong-cheung and Wan Jen respectively. Screenplay is by Wu Nien-jen. All are set in 1960s Taiwan and the unifying factor is that they are all based on short stories…

In Our Time [光陰的故事] (1982)

Generally seen as the film which kicked off the Taiwan New Cinema, this movie consists of four segments by young Taiwanese directors. The segments, although unrelated in terms of plot and characters, move forward in the sense that the main characters move in age from young children to young adults while the time period is…