Hou Hsiao-hsien

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#276 Post by Michael Kerpan » Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:16 pm

Seeing (virtually) all of HHH's films screened (had to miss a few) was absolutely stunning. They made much more sense seen as intended (as things were much more legible). I don't know if Daughter of the nIle was ever available on anything other than VCD...

Vicky is definitely the narrator in MM. I loved the fact that the narration almost always significantly preceded the events being described.

Can't wait to see Assassin.

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Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#277 Post by Raymond Marble » Mon Jul 27, 2015 12:52 pm

After being region locked for some years (my old Malata 520 broke a while back), I finally just bought a region-free blu-ray player so I can watch all of my old import discs and now pick up some new ones I've been lusting after. One I've been curious about is the French special edition DVD of Millenium Mambo. Being a typical American who can really only competently speak English (and that's perhaps being overly generous), does anyone have any input on how worthwhile that release is?

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Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#278 Post by Michael Kerpan » Mon Jul 27, 2015 2:34 pm

The French DVD of MM I have has the same cover -- and does have English subtitles on the film, but not the extras. the HHH interview has French subs, so I could more or less follow what was being said.


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zedz
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Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#280 Post by zedz » Wed Aug 19, 2015 11:10 pm

This was the first Hou I ever saw, way back in 1988. I didn't get it at all and have never seen it since, so this is most welcome.

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#281 Post by Michael Kerpan » Wed Aug 19, 2015 11:22 pm

I got to see Daughter screened, and liked it a lot. Definitely anticipates some themes and techniques that were later used in Millennium Mambo.

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whaleallright
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Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#282 Post by whaleallright » Mon Sep 14, 2015 1:08 am


Can anyone find another link for this information? The link above hasn't worked for me since the day it was posted, alas.

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Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#283 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Mon Sep 14, 2015 9:41 pm

I think the TFI website is actually blocking referrals from this site, for whatever reason. The link doesn't work when I click on it in Calvin's post, but it works fine if I copy-paste it into the address bar. Anyway the only info there is some basic data on the film (cast/crew list, a brief plot outline, etc.) and a "restoration coming soon" notice. If it shows up in 2015, it'd probably be at the Golden Horse Festival in November, but it doesn't look like any of their 2014 restorations premiered until this year, so 2016 is more likely.

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Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#284 Post by whaleallright » Wed Sep 16, 2015 6:33 pm

I'm curious if Daughter of the Nile will actually come out on video, since if I'm not mistaken, it was HHH's first post-New Cinema film, insofar as it was the first not produced by the state-run Central Motion Picture Corp. Am I wrong in vaguely recalling that it was produced using laundered triad money? As we know, the other major films in that category--City of Sadness and A Brighter Summer Day--have not fared too well in the home-video era.

I've only ever seen this film as a rather awful VCD, but whatever I could glean from that suggested that despite its compromises, this film sees Hou working at the height of his powers.

(Btw has there ever been a more natural filmmaker than HHH? I finally got around to watching Green, Green Grass of Home a few weeks ago, and it was evident within the first 30 seconds that I was watching a film made by a guy who has an extraordinary grasp of framing, staging, and editing. There's a long shot of a hillside with a schoolyard below that was somehow both totally unassuming and breathtaking.)

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Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#285 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Wed Sep 16, 2015 7:25 pm

The Sandwich Man, Dust in the Wind, and The Time to Live and the Time to Die were actually the only films Hou made at the CMPC—note that these are the only Hou films the CMPC restored themselves, skipping The Boys from Fengkuei and A Summer at Grandpa's. Daughter of the Nile was produced by the same company that produced Lovable You/Cute Girl and which was eventually bought by PolyGram; it was primarily a record label, which is no doubt why both of their films with Hou had pop singers in the lead roles.

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Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#286 Post by Michael Kerpan » Wed Sep 16, 2015 8:33 pm

It was great seeing Daughter of the Nile on the big screen. I've never understood the negativity that often is aimed at this one.

Green, Green Grass of Home struck me as not as well put together as the first two musical-ish romantic comedies (and the lead actress seemed less interesting in this). But -- it defrinitely has many more hints of the future HHH. I would say that all three of these early films came across much better on the screen than on TV.

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whaleallright
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Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#287 Post by whaleallright » Wed Sep 16, 2015 9:05 pm

Thanks for the info, F.N. So many folks writing about Hou seem to assume that all of his New Cinema films were produced by CMPC.

Is there still a Polygram Taiwan or was it, like Polygram elsewhere, ultimately folded into Universal Music Group?

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Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#288 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Thu Sep 17, 2015 12:43 am

PolyGram Taiwan was bought by Universal as well, but I don't know if PolyGram actually had the films to begin with. Maybe the films had already been transferred to another company or otherwise weren't part of the deal. Lovable You has had several DVD releases (and a theatrical re-release in Taiwan a few years ago), so nothing's keeping it off the market. Daughter of the Nile is by contrast the only Hou film that's never had a DVD release anywhere. As for the CMPC, I don't want to take too much away from them, but there is a tendency to give them almost exclusive credit for backing the New Cinema when a key film like The Boys from Fengkuei wasn't a CMPC production, nor were films like Growing Up, Ah Fei, Super Citizen, and Taipei Story. The commercial producers in Taiwan were desperate enough to win back audiences that they were happy to give the New Cinema a shot—at least until it became evident audiences weren't crazy about those films either and all the private investment fled to Hong Kong.

For those in the Austin area, the Fantastic Fest just added two screenings of The Assassin to the lineup, which I guess means the New York Film Festival will have to stop referring to their screening as the "U.S. premiere." Badges are already sold out (except for daytime-only passes, which won't work for this film), but I guess they'll be selling standby tickets for individual screenings. Last year they started selling standby tickets thirty minutes before the screening, but so far I haven't found anything about how they'll be handling them this year.

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Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#289 Post by alfons416 » Sat Sep 19, 2015 6:14 pm

HHH-retrospective in London going on right now, anyone been watching anything yet?

I'm flying out to London this wednesday exclusively to watch The Puppetmaster! Anyone wanna grab a beer with a lone swede afterwards?

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Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#290 Post by jindianajonz » Sat Sep 19, 2015 6:25 pm

I believe The Puppetmaster can only be screened if there is a lecture accompanying it; please let us know if any interesting news comes out of it!

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Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#291 Post by kuzine » Sat Oct 17, 2015 11:00 am

Went to a screening of the 4k resto of The Boys from Fengkuei at my local filmfestival today and the screening was introduced by a representative of Cinematik (who together with WCF and Hou carried out the resto). He mentioned Cinematek will put it out on dvd at the end of this year together with 2 of the 3 Kenny Bee Hou films (also restored if I heard him correctly). No mention of a possible blu release (didn't get a chance to ask), but home video rights have been picked up already for these in France and Italy.

And they're currently working on restoring Yang's Taipei Story!

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Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#292 Post by FakeBonanza » Sat Oct 17, 2015 5:52 pm

I'm really bummed about The Assassin schedule; I had expected this one to get a wider release than most Hou films, due to its genre leanings (and maybe it has... but I thought it would've been larger still). I hope there's still a possibility for it to expand.
kuzine wrote:Went to a screening of the 4k resto of The Boys from Fengkuei at my local filmfestival today and the screening was introduced by a representative of Cinematik (who together with WCF and Hou carried out the resto). He mentioned Cinematek will put it out on dvd at the end of this year together with 2 of the 3 Kenny Bee Hou films (also restored if I heard him correctly). No mention of a possible blu release (didn't get a chance to ask), but home video rights have been picked up already for these in France and Italy.

And they're currently working on restoring Yang's Taipei Story!
Thanks for sharing, this is awesome news all around. Taipei Story may be the most exciting news, being a more-than-welcome surprise. Watching the horrid VHS rip floating around has provided me with only the faintest impression of Yang's masterpiece. Did the Cinematik rep comment on whether the Film Foundation was participating in this resto as well?

My only concern is that the Cinematek release of The Boys from Fengkuei is that it disqualifies the film's potential inclusion in a future WCP box set, though I suppose a decent blu-ray release will be made available in one region or another. I wonder Cinematek's participation explains why The Boys from Fengkuei isn't listed among the titles on the WCP's website.

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Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#293 Post by Calvin » Fri Nov 13, 2015 9:14 pm

Restored versions of Cute Girl and Green Green Grass of Home will screen at the Golden Horse Festival along with the recent restoration of The Boys from Fengkuei.

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Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#294 Post by FakeBonanza » Sat Nov 14, 2015 9:16 am

Calvin wrote:Restored versions of Cute Girl and Green Green Grass of Home will screen at the Golden Horse Festival along with the recent restoration of The Boys from Fengkuei.
These must be the two Kenny Bee films that Cinematek restored along with The Boys from Fengkuei (mentioned above by kuzine).

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Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#295 Post by Trees » Thu Dec 03, 2015 7:45 am

I have been searching for higher-quality blu-rays for "Three Times" and "Millennium Mambo", and any of Hou's older films. Do any such blu-rays exist, or are there any new BD releases in the works now?

Any Criterion BDs in the works for HHH?

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Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#296 Post by mfunk9786 » Thu Dec 03, 2015 1:23 pm


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Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#297 Post by zedz » Thu Dec 03, 2015 3:41 pm

Trees wrote:I have been searching for higher-quality blu-rays for "Three Times" and "Millennium Mambo", and any of Hou's older films. Do any such blu-rays exist, or are there any new BD releases in the works now?

Any Criterion BDs in the works for HHH?
As far as I know, the only Hou features ever available on Blu were Dust in the Wind and A Time to Live and a Time to Die, on this Taiwanese set. His (fleeting) segment of 10 + 10 was also released on BluRay, but I think that's it until The Assassin rolls out.

The Boys from Fengkuei has just been restored, so that's a possibility for a future release, but we're still waiting for a boatload of WCF restorations to appear on home video in any format.

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Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#298 Post by Jean-Luc Garbo » Mon Dec 07, 2015 6:57 pm

Until January 6th there's a 40% off sale at Columbia University Press which includes two books on HHH: No Man an Island by James Udden and Hou Hsiao-Hsien edited by Richard I. Suchenski. I'm buying a copy of the former but I can recommend the latter.

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Trees
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Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#299 Post by Trees » Sat Dec 12, 2015 5:12 pm

Interesting interview here with HHH. He says if he can get funding he will make another film soon; if not, "you will have to wait a long time before I can make another film." He also mentioned that he would like to make another martial-arts film.

http://sensesofcinema.com/2015/feature- ... interview/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Re: Hou Hsiao-hsien

#300 Post by shadedpain4 » Fri Dec 18, 2015 4:18 pm

zedz wrote:
Trees wrote:I have been searching for higher-quality blu-rays for "Three Times" and "Millennium Mambo", and any of Hou's older films. Do any such blu-rays exist, or are there any new BD releases in the works now?

Any Criterion BDs in the works for HHH?
As far as I know, the only Hou features ever available on Blu were Dust in the Wind and A Time to Live and a Time to Die, on this Taiwanese set. His (fleeting) segment of 10 + 10 was also released on BluRay, but I think that's it until The Assassin rolls out.

The Boys from Fengkuei has just been restored, so that's a possibility for a future release, but we're still waiting for a boatload of WCF restorations to appear on home video in any format.
The Sandwich Man is getting a blu release as part of this set in a few days.

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