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A City of Sadness

Directed by Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Film Movement Classics
1989
157 Minutes
Taiwan
Mandarin, Taiwanese, Japanese, Cantonese, Shanghainese
Classics, Drama, Asian
Asian Studies, Film Studies, History
Not Rated
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Soon after Japan relinquishes control of Taiwan in 1945, the Lin brothers face hardships from the changing culture. Bar owner Wen-heung (Chen Sung-Young), 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 (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai), the youngest brother, decides to make a stand and fight the Kuomintang government from China that is assuming power. Presented in a new 4K restoration carried out at Taipei Postproduction Corporation.

Cast

  • Tony Leung Chiu-wai
  • Hsin Shu-Fen
  • Chen Sung-Young
  • Jack Kao
  • Highest Rating
    "A City of Sadness is a great film, one that will be watched as long as there are people who care about the movies as an art."
    Dave Kehr, Chicago Tribune
  • Highest Rating
    "Hou turns in a masterpiece of small gestures and massive resonance...."
    Tony Rayns, Time Out
  • Highest Rating
    "Beautiful family saga by the great Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien."
    Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
  • Highest Rating
    " [I]t is worth the long wait for the resonance of ''A City of Sadness'' to emerge. With its smooth and often motionless camerawork, with its dark interiors and its scenes of unimportant conversations around some dinner table, ''A City of Sadness'' creates the aura of people living daily under siege."
    Caryn James, The New York Times
  • Highest Rating
    "The movie conveys the director's intensely personal struggle at the crossroads of large-scale history and private memory; with understatedly bitter irony, he depicts the birth of a nation at the price of a family's dissolution."
    Richard Brody, The New Yorker
  • Highest Rating
    "[T]he director’s most elusive and renowned film..., the 1989 masterpiece A City of Sadness."
    Julian DeBerry, Austin Chronicle
  • Highest Rating
    "The overworked term "masterpiece" to designate an artistic triumph as well as the successful completion of an ambitious undertaking can be applied here without reservation."
    N.T. Binh, Positif
  • Highest Rating
    "Hou Hsiao-Hsien's subtle compositions and meticulous pacing draw the viewer into the heart of the drama."
    Radio Times, David Parkinson

Gallery

Awards & Recognition

Winner
Golden Lion
Venice Film Festival
Winner
Special Golden Ciak
Venice Film Festival
Winner
UNESCO Award
Venice Film Festival
Winner
Best Director
Golden Horse Film Festival
Winner
Best Leading Actor
Golden Horse Film Festival
Winner
Best Foreign Language Film
Kinema Junpo Awards
Winner
Special Award
Political Film Society, USA
Nominated
Best Feature Film
Golden Horse Film Festival
Nominated
Best Foreign Film
Film Independent Spirit Awards
Official Selection
New York Film Festival
Official Selection
Toronto Int'l. Film Festival
Official Selection
Berlin Int'l. Film Festival

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