Also Like Life: The Films of Hou Hsiao-hsien
“I make films because I love this world and I believe in people,” notes Hou Hsiao-hsien. This retrospective of the acclaimed Taiwanese director’s work is copresented with the AFI Silver Theatre (afi.com/silver) and the National Gallery of Art (nga.gov). Visit their websites for additional schedule information.
http://www.asia.si.edu/events/allevents.asp?trumbaEmbed=view%3Dseries%26seriesid%3D1233718The Puppetmaster
Sunday, December 7, 2 pm
Hou masterfully recreates the life of puppeteer Li Tien-lu (1909–1998), one of Taiwan's official national treasures. (1993, 142 min., 35mm, Mandarin, Taiwanese, and Japanese with English subtitles)
Goodbye South, Goodbye
Friday, December 12, 7 pm
Kao, his protégé Flathead, and their girlfriends try to get rich quick, but they are too confused—or too human—to be proper “gangsters.” (1996, 124 min., 35mm, Mandarin and Taiwanese with English subtitles)
Flowers of Shanghai
Sunday, December 14, 2 pm
New 35mm print courtesy Center for Moving Image Arts (CMIA)
Tony Leung stars in Hou's quietly sumptuous tale of brothel life in 19th-century Shanghai. Phillip Lopate called it as a “visually ravishing masterpiece.” (1998, 130 min., 35mm, Shanghainese and Cantonese with English subtitles)
Millennium Mambo
Sunday, December 21, 2 pm
The glamorous Shu Qi wanders through neon nightclubs in this hypnotic look at Taipei’s youth, which Film Threat described as “sublime, compelling, and beautifully crafted.” (2001, 119 min., 35mm, Mandarin and Japanese with English subtitles)
