HOU HSIAO-HSIEN: EARLY WORKS
The most dynamic filmmaker of the Taiwanese New Wave, Hou Hsiao-hsien, has become one of the most important filmmakers in world cinema. His very recognizable, contemplative style has influenced a whole generation, not only in East Asia.
THE BOYS FROM FENGKUEI (1983)
CINEMATEK has gathered three early films on this 3 disc edition: the romantic comedies CUTE GIRL (1980) and THE GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF HOME (1982) which Hou made for the Central Motion Picture Corporation (with its policy of “Healthy Realism”) and THE BOYS FROM FENGKUEI (1983), considered to be the turning point both cinematographically and aesthetically in his career.
CUTE GIRL (1980)
“It’s clear that the most radical change that took place in Hou’s work after the commercial period is the foregrounding of more modernist forms of storytelling. A picaresque comedy like GREEN, GREEN GRASS was already episodic up to a certain degree, but THE BOYS further loosed causality, added open-endedness and set up a distinctly elliptical approach that would become another Hou trademark. It has been argued that this discontinuous, open approach to storytelling offers further proof of Hou’s Chineseness. But there are few aspects to this narrative style that Hou doesn’t share with Fellini, Antonioni, Godard, Fassbinder, or Wenders.”
– Tom Paulus, “All the Youthful Days: Hou at the Beginning”.
THE GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF HOME (1982)
All three films have been restored by CINEMATEK under supervision of Hou Hsiao-hsien and in collaboration with the Film Foundation (World Cinema Project). Every film is accompanied by an audiovisual essay by Cristina Álvarez López and Adrian Martin. In the accompanying booklet Tom Paulus (University of Antwerp) comments on the early days of Hou Hsiao-hsien's career.
“Hou has always been coy about the Ozu influence, and it’s true that the conventional pastoral image of the train delivering urbanites to the country [in THE GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF HOME] is as much John Ford as Ozu. And perhaps Ford is the more apt comparison: both directors have made masterful films about their respective country’s history and myths, with the passage from tradition to modernity marked as a train journey from country to city; both have a particular interest in communities and families and in the mundane details of everyday life, especially eating and drinking; both are obsessed with memory and recollection, especially s conveyed through oral or folk traditions; stylistically, both have an unmatched talent for deep and ensemble staging and favour long shots and low light levels; both are at once sentimental and detached, at home in the world and, as immigrants alien to it.”
– Tom Paulus, “All the Youthful Days: Hou at the Beginning”
Contents
Format: DVD-PAL / Region 0
(No Regional Code)
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CUTE GIRL
(Taiwan, 1980)
Director, writer: Hou Hsiao-hsien
Producer: Yeh Chen-feng & Lu Ta-chuan
Cinematography: Chen Kun-hou
Editor: Liao Ching-sung
Sound: Wan Chung-fang
Music: Tso Hung-yuan
Cast: Kenny Bee, Feng Fei-fei & Anthony Chan
• 86 minutes
• 35mm
• Color
• Sound
_________________________________________
THE GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF HOME
(Taiwan, 1982)
Director, writer: Hou Hsiao-hsien
Producer: Chang Hwa-kun & Yao Pai-hsueh
Cinematography: Chen Kun-hou
Editor: Liao Ching-sung
Sound: Hsin Chiang-sheng
Music: Tso Hung-yuan
Production Design: Chi Kai-ching
Cast: Kenny Bee, Chiang Ling & Chen Mei-feng
• 87 minutes
• 35mm
• Color
• Sound
_________________________________________
THE BOYS FROM FENGKUEI
(Taiwan, 1983)
Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien
Producer: Lin Jung-feng, Chang Hwa-kun & Chen Kun-hou
Screenwriter: Chu Tien-wen
Cinematography: Chen Kun-hou
Editor: Liao Ching-sung
Sound: Hsin Chiang-sheng
Music: Li Tsung-sheng, Bach & Vivaldi
Production Design: Tsai Cheng-pin
Cast: Doze Niu (Cheng-tse), To Tsung-hua, Lin Hsiu-ling, Chang Shih, Yang Li-yin & Chang Shun-fang
• 95 minutes
• 35mm
• Color
• Sound
_________________________________________
Bonus Material
HAPPY NEW YEAR
(Belgium, 2015)
An audiovisual essay by Adrian Martin & Cristina Álvarez López on "building the romantic comedy of Hou Hsiao-hsien's comedy CUTE GIRL (1980)"
• 15 minutes
• Video
• Color
• Sound
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A SWEET LITTLE VILLAGE
(Belgium, 2015)
An audiovisual essay by Adrian Martin & Cristina Álvarez López on Hou Hsiao-hsien's THE GREEN, GREEN GRAZZ OF HOME (1982
• 16 minutes
• Video
• Color
• Sound
◊
I'M STILL THERE
(Belgium, 2015)
An audiovisual essay by Adrian Martin & Cristina Álvarez López on Hou Hsiao-hsien's THE BOYS FROM FENGKUEI (1983)
• 22 minutes
• Video
• Color
• Sound
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Total Running Time: 04:28:00
Language: Mandarin & Taiwanese. English, Dutch & French subtitles.
Booklet Text: Tom Paulus (English, Dutch & French)
Published By: Cinematek
Institutional Price: $400 (plus shipping)
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