Unfolding in Real Time: Hou Hsiao-Hsien

I have been an admirer of the Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-Hsien for about two years now. From the first time I experienced the slow motion magnificence during the opening sequence in Millennium Mambo (terrible title, I know) I knew I was in capable hands. Since then I have seen 4 more of his films: Flowers of Shanghai, Café Lumiere, Goodbye South, Goodbye and Three Times. People say he owes a lot to Yasujiro Ozu. I would venture to say this comparison is more about content than style as Ozu was not a proponent of the long take but where they do converge is the sublime moods they both create. Café Lumiere is actually a tribute to Ozu for the 100th anniversary of his birth. Of course many have noted the similarities to Robert Altman as both employ the same static camera and overlapping dialogue techniques. Jim Jarmusch considers himself a student of this great Asian master and stated recently that Three Times is one of his favorite cinematic experiences. Back in 1988 the New York Critics Society named him Filmmaker to watch or “God-Like” Filmmaker (or some such). At that time he’d already made like 6 films. I admit I am a little late getting into him but his movies are so timeless in their appeal and so far away from the Hollywood model that you won’t feel like you missed out seeing them when they first came out. In my opinion he is now making movies that are as good as, if not better than, the glory days of the 80’s.

If you haven’t seen this guy’s films you should really get out there and rent them. They aren’t accessible in the most conventional sense but this is only because society as a whole has had its’ attention span significantly shortened in the last 30 years. I would say the best place to start is where I started: Millennium Mambo. This is set in Taipei about 6 years ago. It follows the life of a couple of slackers in their early 20’s and what they would go through on a day-to-day basis. (you know…the fights…the drugs…the nightclubs). On paper it sounds pretty trite and yeah we’ve all seen it before but the way he uses the environment and off camera space is truly refreshing. You really get a sense that these events are unfolding in real time. The now requisite reaction shot is nowhere to be found in any of his pictures (the ones I’ve seen anyway, he may have used one or two in early films). So if you like movies that thrive on tone and mood and you like the colour palate of a movie as apposed to spit fire dialogue and plot twist then you should see Hou’s movies. You might not even think you enjoy movies that are done in this fashion until you actually see one.

The Vancity Theatre is going to be playing Three Times from March 17 to the 23rd. This is a must-see on the big screen and the Vancity theatre is the newest and arguably best in town.