“A City of Sadness” is an early collection of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s records of historical events in Taiwan.

"A City of Sadness" was the culmination of Hou Hsiao-hsien's early work.

Hou Hsiao-hsien, who found his own style in ``The Boy in the Wind Chest ,'' went on to write `` Winter and Winter Summer Vacation '' (1984), based on the original work by Zhu Tianwen, and the autobiographical `` Children's Past/The Passage of Time '' (1985). ) and other representative films one after another, attracting international attention. In an interview conducted by Shizue Tamura in January 1988, Hou Hsiao-hsien stated that his previous works had been studies for him, and that the new work he would create from now on would be The Graduate work. For him, the 1980s were a lesson in filmmaking. After the interview, he began filming ``A City of Sadness'' (1989).

It will be a movie that culminates in all the training he has put into it. As he had predicted, ``A City of Sadness'' became the culmination of Hou Hsiao-hsien's early work. He won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, bringing great joy to his friends and his country. This was the first Taiwanese film to win the Grand Prix at an international film festival. In addition, this was Hou Hsiao-hsien's first historical drama that dealt with an era he had not experienced, as he had previously focused on portraying contemporary youth.

“A City of Sadness” preview

The story of ``A City of Sadness'' is set in post-war Taiwan, which has been liberated from half a century of colonial rule. The film depicts the rise and fall of the Hayashi family, who ran a bar in the port city of Keelung, from 1945 to 1949. Hayashi Aki, who runs a bar, has four sons. The eldest son, who inherits his father's business, had just had a son with his mistress on the day the war ended. The second son's whereabouts have been unknown since he went to the South Seas to work as a military doctor. The third son finally returns from the battlefield, but he is mentally ill. The fourth son, Bunkiyo, became deaf due to an accident when he was eight years old, and now works at the photo studio his father built. The film depicts an elderly father and four brothers being tossed around by the waves of time as a beautiful epic poem.

Popular actor Tony Léon: The Professional plays the role of the fourth son, Wen Qing. It is a well-known story that Wen Qing was given the role of a deaf person because Tony Léon: The Professional, who is from Hong Kong, could not speak Taiwanese. But it also had unintended effects. Although many regular actors from Hou Hsiao-hsien's films appeared in this film, there was a clear difference in their status as performers from star actors like Tony Léon: The Professional. That is why the fact that Tony Léon: The Professional stood alone as a bystander without saying a word served to subtly hide the invisible boundaries between the actors.

The first Taiwanese film depicting the February 28 Incident.