Soon after Japan relinquishes control of Taiwan in 1945, the Lin brothers face hardships from the changing culture. Bar owner Wen-heung, the eldest brother, falls foul of local gangsters, Wen-sun disappears, and Wen-leung, scarred by his experiences in the war, ends up in an insane asylum. Deaf-mute photographer Wen-ching, the youngest brother, decides to make a stand and fight the Kuomintang government from China that is assuming power.
Director: Hou Hsiao-Hsien. AKA 悲情城市 / A City of Sadness
Writers: T’ien-wen Chu, Nien-Jen Wu.
Stars: Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Chen Sung-young, Jack Kao, Li Tian-lu, Xin Shufen, Wu Yi-fang, Nakamura Ikuyo, Jan Hung-tze, Wu Nien-jen, Zhang Dachun.
Cinematographer: Huai-En Chen.
Composer: Naoki Tachikawa.
1989 Venice Film Festival – Winner of the Golden Lion.
This is a weirdly hard to find masterpiece. Thank you!
Seeing this and The Puppetmaster (1993) in 35mm we’re highlights of my life. The film’s scarce availability is due to its very convoluted rights situation-there have long been whispers of Triad (mob) money being used to help make it, but who knows. I think this film may have a record for the most spoken languages during its runtime
Brilliant film. Not to be miss
Thank goodness for this site.Magnificent film. I still kick myself for not getting the video when it was affordable.
I’ve been looking for this movie for a long time. Thank you!!
I know that there is a new restoration of the movie done last year, could we possibly get it up on here? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6m_7eleZXw