Ni Hou Ma?
Since Paul (to my surprise) enjoys Three Time, and its 2/28, let me dig my claws into the flesh of Hou Hsiao-Hsien for a moment. Since I can never write about Hou in an elegant nor on an academic plane as Paul can, I’ll leave the review for Flowers of Shanghai on the table for Paul. If you are familiar with Hou, it is easy to just dismiss him as a self-indulgent, pornographer of nostalgia. Like all myths and facts, this is half true and half false. My best description of Hou, if labeling people is your thing, would be that he gives an emotional response to the social and political climate of his youth. We are all nostalgic creatures, if you are not there yet, trust me, you will be, eventually; for Hou, I think these are his personal reaction of the particular period as it is references to changing ideas and values (jacked it straight from Paul, I’m a lazy, lazy man), without a particular answer or solution. I don’t necessary believe that he’s suggesting there is anything wrong with the social norms of a particular period, e.g. how the social consumption of opium was an accepted doctrine in Taiwan’s history, i.e. Flowers of Shanghai. Hou let us peek into these periods through his non-judgmental eyes, as if these are contemporary pieces and all of the actions and ideals of his character are the ideals and believes of modern sensibilities. Hou is a true transporter of your emotions, a bus driver that takes your emotions back to a different time with a different frame of mind; alas, a pornographer of nostalgia (bus driver, would it be better if I said train conductor? Airplane pilot perhaps? I apologize for such a pointless digression). I don’t believe that he is so concerned with shifts of social paradigm from one period to the next, or the obvious similarities or differences in people of different periods or class, this would seem too trivial to address. So then; what is he trying to say? How can anyone be so neutral about such a dynamic period; youth, and more importantly youth in the fluxing politics of Taiwan, China and Japan? Every period, within its own construct is a “period of change”; no generation ever defined itself as a generation of complacency, “well, we never really did anything in my generation, son, nothing really happened, just went to school, got a job, got married, paid taxes, and accepted everything for what it is.” But the current US administration and the lack of response by its denizens come pretty close to a generation of complacency; but that’s another rant all together, but we all believe, in a very pompous and self-righteous path that WE (our generation) changed the world is some way, in some form, be it the inconsequential revolution of fashion, music, pop culture, at least WE will be remembered for something, right? Nice try… as mentioned, en mass, in the past, besides from being lazy, I am an optimistic pessimist, I endearingly await the end, and in that end, nothing WE did will really amount to the dirt we will rest on anyway. So why make films about our beloved youth, why write bloggs about other people’s movie about their beloved youth? I need something to do to past the time before my box lands in the hole. I’m sure Hou, to some simplistic sense of existence agrees with me. Anyway, in the end, either over-complicating or over simplifying Hou’s intentions, or hoping it’s somewhere in-between, his movies seem to provoke a fundamental character of the human condition that entertaining or not, artistically sound or not, cannot be denied or overlooked as well as dismissed for self-indulgent boredom… whether its boring or not. So the best I can do after wasting people’s precious internet porn surfing time is to suggests some of Hou’s right hand movies, only if you enjoy Three times and want to elevate this relationship to the next level (I hope it works out for the two of you in the future, keeping my fingers crossed). His quintessential, I believe, is City of Sadness. The nostalgia in Three Times does not even come close to the nostalgia in City of Sadness; mainly because it deals with the taboo subject of the 2/28 incident. A good movie to watch… well today, no other successful directors of Taiwanese origins, not a one, would even go near 2/28. I would highly point you to City of Sadness before Flower… though Flower fits nicely into the number #3 slot. I eagerly await Western debut, currently in post-production, Le Ballon Rouge (the Red Balloon). But do give some attention Japanese language Café Lumiere, and take heed to Millennium Mambo, and least we neglect Goodbye South, Goodbye. These should keep you nice and cozy during these cold winter nights or at least a weekend or two.
Labels: Taiwanese Director
