All language subtitles for Flowers.of.Taipei.Taiwan.New.Cinema.2014.CHINESE.1080p.BluRay.H264.AAC-VXT

Don't interrupt me!

I know when to stop.

Okay.

Here we go.

Ten major construction
projects in the 70s

drove Taiwan's economic development.

It was also the era

of Taiwan's international defeat.

Withdrawal from the UN
breaking away from the US

led to diplomatic isolation.

Taiwan was isolated.

As a result,

the middle-class grew more independent

and demanded an allocation of power.

The history of Taiwan was revealed

piece by piece.

At this time,

politics
the economy and culture mixed up.

The Native Literature movement emerged

telling stories of the island,

while Cloud Gate told it with dances.

The Folk Song movement
and Beautiful Island Magazine

then appeared.

In the 80s, after the Formosa Incident,

they became prominent.

Most direct, artistically,

were the small theater companies.

Everyone had something to say.

And then came Taiwan New Cinema.

Its expression was on a grand scale,

which was very powerful.

In The Boys From Fengkuei

people dance by the sea, in the waves,

and they migrate to the big cities.

In A City of Sadness

we saw the process of time,

the sacrifice of people.

In That Day, On The Beach

the social elite indulge past glories

in an uncertain present.

In an uncertain present.

In A Brighter Summer Day

troubled youngsters

try to release their pent-up energy.

The collision of repressed emotions
is the theme of the 80s

Abolition of Martial Law in 1987.

Liberation of cross-strait relations.

On the basis of what was founded
in the 70s,

great things were achieved in the 80s.

Which shaped the open
liberal society of Taiwan today.

Among all this,

theater, cinema, art and literature

played critical roles.

Done, isn't it?

Thank you.

In the corridor of a hospital

a nurse is running.

In the corridor of a hospital

light flickers.

A mosquito net...

On a train,

a man who can't speak.

A young student is stabbed by her lover.

About 20 years ago
I was studying film in Chicago.

I watched many different kinds of films.

I was inspired by American
experimental cinema.

The Film Center showed many Asian films,

from Iran and Taiwan.

Watching these films,

I was stunned by their novelty.

They were unfamiliar
a different form of film.

They were the kind of films
I was looking for.

They were not experimental per se,

but they connected to

to what I grew up with.

Especially the films of Hou Hsiao-Hsien.

They were part of why I returned
to work in Thailand.

His work reminded me of home.

And I recalled my life experience.

I think his films dealt with memories.

They were the spark that made

me believe our memories have value.

Film is memory.

Taiwan New Cinema continues
to influence my work.

Often I think, after shooting,

why did I frame like this?

And realize I'm recalling
Taiwan New Cinema films,

their flat compositions,

or using windows or doors

to make a frame within a frame.

It's usually straight and flat
not angled.

Simple and austere.

I must be influenced by them.

Another influence relates to time.

It makes me think I'm observing myself,

not watching a film.

When I watch a film by Hou Hsiao-Hsien,

Edward Yang, Tsai Ming-Liang,

I always fall asleep.

Years later my films
put audiences to sleep.

I think, maybe
there's a special power to these films

that takes viewers to a different world,

a different state of relaxation,

where we can leave ourselves behind.

Film transports us to a dream world,

then as we wake, we're still there,

almost like a unique voyage.

The first film I watched
was The Boys from Fengkuei.

I remember very clearly.

How stunned I was.

It had such exceptional
freshness and talent.

Freshness refers to

the ease of access into
this cinema, for me.

It took me back to the origin of films,

to the era of silent films.

The Sandwich Man and In Our Time,

these films were a success.

Followed by A Summer at Grandpa's

and Edward Yang's Taipei Story,

All these films acquired
a cultural identity for Taiwan.

After thirty years

I can still feel that freshness,

that feeling of going back
to the beginning.

Maybe it didn't happen consciously

or they were not very clear
about the origins,

but they somehow uncovered
something original.

1983 and the following years

Loosely she has done up her hair;

Thinly she has powdered her face.

In rosy smoke and purple mist
she looks so fair;

As light as willow down
she walks with grace.

Before we part, we long to meet;

Amorous, she seems not in love.

I should write literature.

I have such passion in my heart.

My eyes give away my presumptions,

and my lips will tell you

I love you.

Marco, you returned from China in 1978
and immediately went to...

To Hong Kong.

By that time I often met Edward Yang
in Hong Kong.

When he completed
his first feature in 1981,

he mentioned to me
two collective film projects.

From these collective films

you could see something developing

The most important thing
was the invention

Even though everything was
under the control of the CMPC,

the giant semi-governmental
film organization,

for quite a long time

there was a stunning atmosphere
of creative freedom.

After unveiling Taiwan New Cinema

and the Hong Kong New Wave,

I was eager to explore much more.

But we decided to focus
on Taiwan New Cinema.

In 1984, in Pesaro
we held the first retrospective

which included important documents
and film reviews

that hadn't previously been seen.

So, you witnessed the development
of Taiwan cinema?

At first I knew nothing
about Taiwan cinema.

At that time
no one was familiar with Chinese cinema,

past or present.

Marco Muller held a retrospective
for Chinese films

at the Torino Film Festival in 1981.

Taiwan cinema was banned
for political reasons.

It was incredible enough to see

Taiwanese and Chinese cinemas

It was all vague and unclear.

All information and messages
were partial and incomplete.

We didn't know about the background
of these films.

Tesson and I were trying
to establish some framework

to introduce Chinese-language films,

and to learn their scope and history.

When I started research
in Hong Kong in 1984

the new Chinese cinema was Hong Kong.

To my surprise, around the same time,

new cinemas were emerging
in several places

out of various backgrounds.

There was no commercial studio system
as in Hong Kong,

there was the very peculiar system
of the Republic of China

While Taiwan was almost like a desert.

No!

I don't think Taiwan was a film desert.

On the contrary, it had great variety,

with a stable audience
though not a young one.

Unlike genre films in Hong Kong
or commercial Hollywood,

which focus on youngsters,

Taiwan cinema maintained
historical values.

It was inspired by literature,

with genres like the melodrama
and mostly for mature audiences.

Mei, you started to tell me something?

Nothing, cousin.

You believe wishes can bring happiness?

Sometimes. Why do you ask?

I wish you happiness for ever.

Thank you.

But it's true that in Taiwan things
shaped up differently,

because there were artists and writers
who nourished Taiwan New Cinema,

with their new ideas, like Wu Nien-Chen.

That's where a generation of filmmakers

met their national history.

A-Suat, your uncle has been captured.

We don't know where he is.

We thought about escaping

but where to?

I became programmer
at the Venice Film Festival,

in charge of Japan and Greater China.

I thought it was time to make a push

so that a Taiwanese film
A City of Sadness,

The old lion of Chinese cinema
director Xie Jin,

convinced the jury,

chaired by the Italian Pupi Avati,

that it will make history
in Chinese cinema,

that they should give it
an important award,

and be the ones marking a new chapter
in cinema history.

It assured Taiwan's existence.

At that point there had been
the first of many diplomatic incident

Taiwan's flag was hung
on the Palazzo del Cinema.

We had to bring it down
after an official Chinese protest.

I was staying across the street
at The Excelsior Hotel.

We received the whole Taiwanese team
with their national flag

so they could meet the press
and do television interviews

without losing their identity
as a nation.

Although we received a prize
there are more things to do.

You can't get overwhelmed by it.

Now I think we won't.

Actually we are very clear,

we'll keep working hard.

Look what I found at home,

the program booklet
from Lugones Theater.

The Taiwan New Cinema programme?

And it's still intact.

It's been thirteen years,

I kept it in a closet

with all my scripts
films and catalogues.

I sort of grew up with Hou Hsiao-Hsien.

I've followed his films since the 80s.

In Argentina?
Before BAFICI Film Festival?

No, not here.

I lived in New York in the 80s.

I saw them over there.

Not in a movie theatre

but a small Asian film festival held
in Chinatown.

I first watched a film
by Hou Hsiao-Hsien,

and I loved it right away.

So I started to follow
Taiwanese cinema closely,

and was enchanted by it.

What image do you keep of Taiwan
and its directors?

Not the image of a nation, but rather

of a certain cinema.

To me, Taiwanese cinema is

the only one that feels intimate to me,

like the New Wave in the 60s.

But the 60s is not my generation,

Taiwan New Cinema seemed closer to me.

Not to a certain director
but to many directors.

I was told Taiwan New Cinema
refers only to

certain films made
between 1982 and 1986.

So there were only a few, the later

development of the directors varies.

I got to know them as a whole
all the New Waves...

Was it the result of film festivals?

No, because they aren't
my contemporaries

so I'm learning to
appreciate this complicated

and somewhat slower cinema.

What's wrong?

I failed my maths exam.

Why didn't you get help?

My name is Ichiyama Shozo,

I'm a film producer.

I worked with Hou Hsiao-Hsien on Good Men
Good Women,

Goodbye South, Goodbye
and Flowers of Shanghai.

Then I became Jia Zhangke's producer.

After The Puppetmaster screened
at the Tokyo Film Festival

someone from Hou's company contacted me.

They were in pre-production
for his next project,

but an investor withdrew abruptly

which caused them problems.

They asked if a Japanese company
could invest.

I don't know if other Taiwanese
directors work like this

or only Hou Hsiao-Hsien.

But for the Japanese,

it's such a free way to make films
it's unimaginable.

You could argue that it's extravagant,

but that's how he makes films.

I worked with Hou Hsiao-Hsien
about ten years ago.

At this secondhand bookstore
we made the film Café Lumière.

I appreciate his way of directing,

it emphasizes the actors.

Sometimes we would finish a scene

and he'd do the same scene the next day.

In Japan, that's considered a re-take

unless there is some critical problem.

But he shot the same scene
over many days.

One day I asked him
why we kept re-shooting.

He said to me:

"Because you look more lively today."

Then I understood the fundamental point.

The most important thing in film
is to capture the energy of actors.

Not only humans, but also the weather,

the atmosphere,

and the location.

He focuses on these.

I met him once before the shooting.

I was surprised right away.

The production booked him a nice hotel

but he cancelled it and moved to

a business hotel near New Okubo Station.

I was told to meet him there.

When I met him,

he seemed less like a filmmaker

than a friendly uncle.

Right away I said to myself
I'll enjoy working with him.

This is Koryukaku Hotel,

in front of New Okubo Station

where Hou usually stays in Tokyo.

Often I took him back here for meetings.

It feels familiar, it's a place
with memories.

The last scene of Millennium Mambo

was shot here.

I've worked in films for 30 years.

That's not the point,

but the 30th anniversary
of Taiwan New Cinema

is also my 30th anniversary.

Maybe that's destiny.

I find it interesting.

And I'm honored to talk about it.

I'd say it's Edward Yang's films

that inspired me.

The first one I saw

was A Brighter Summer Day.

It left a deep impression.

Then Mahjong.

A Confucian Confusion, Yi Yi.

All his films affect me profoundly.

I don't think Taiwan films at that time

captured Taiwan in a raw fashion.

On the contrary
their film language was sophisticated.

They didn't build sets,

and used real people and locations.

By carefully using existing elements

they achieved cinematic results.

And they all had individual styles.

The films looked natural

and dramatic at the same time.

Taiwan cinema is well-known in Japan

although some directors' films

have never been introduced here.

One of them is Wang Tung.

It's such a pity,

I love his work very much.

All of his films are great.

I especially like Banana Paradise.

The Chinese Nationalists
lost the civil war

and fled to Taiwan.

The clash between locals
and the newcomers

saw the emergence of new values.

The ordinary people who

constituted Taiwanese society

turned their sorrows into humor.

It might be a bit rude to say,

but it deeply touches my heart.

Stop.

What now?

I don't understand
the song you're singing.

I'll sing a song.

Let me begin.

I hold a gun against my shoulder...

a grenade hangs from my chest.

Chin up, chest out!

Another song!

Let's sing My Hometown (Mandarin)

Whose Town? (Taiwanese)

Home-town.

What-Town?

Oh, fellows in my home town

come join the army
and serve your country.

Since the Japanese invasion,

my wife and children have suffered.

There's a certain sadness
within Taiwanese society.

Before claiming its identity,

it's hard to say...

Taiwan had adopted both
Chinese and Japanese culture,

in addition to other cultures.

Well, highlighting
the uniqueness of Taiwan...

My father was born in Kaohsiung.

He also had his education there.

He went to high school in Chiayi.

He grew up in the south of Taiwan.

After graduation from high school

he worked in Lushun, China,

then completed his military service

and was sent to Siberia.

3 years after the end of the war

he arrived for the first time in Japan.

Though he had a perilous youth

he said he had a great life in Taiwan.

It's one of the small parts of his life

where he could live carefree.

He always mentioned
how good the bananas were,

or how tasty the pineapple was.

He said these things repeatedly.

When I was little

whenever he was in a good mood

he'd bring some pineapples home

and slice them up like this.

As we enjoyed the pineapple

he was there murmuring

"the ones from Taiwan
taste much better."

So when I finally watched
A Time to Live, A Time to Die,

it connected to my childhood,

with certain unspoken intimacy,

which wasn't a bad thing.

But personally, when I grew up,

and thought about the relation
between Japan and Taiwan

I couldn't simply cover it

with my father's carefree youth
could I?

I was deeply moved by that film

and I thought this is what
I want to shoot.

Honestly, Japanese films in the 80s,

though there were some directors
I respect,

there weren't any that I wanted
to follow.

It was like the match
I'd been waiting for.

This is the Chigasaki Kan hotel,

about one hour from Tokyo.

Ozu Yasujiro and Noda Kogo
the director and writer duo,

used to work in this room.

It would have looked exactly
as it is now.

They wrote the screenplay
for Tokyo Story here.

When a Japanese watches Taiwan cinema

what he'd notice first is

how Taiwan inherits Japanese culture.

For example, in A Summer At Grandpa's,

Dong Dong visits his grandpa
in the countryside.

His grandpa is a doctor

and his clinic is in an old building.

I'd not seen such buildings abroad.

It's a typical Japanese countryside clinic
of the old days.

Those scenes evoke nostalgia.

However, even though it's reminiscent
of sweet memories,

it's difficult to feel delight,

because colonial history is always dark.

The locals must have suffered.

Seeing Super Citizen Ko by Wan Jen,

I felt an acute pain.

The film portrays the White Terror
of the 50s,

when intellectuals were persecuted.

The intellectuals at that time
received a Japanese education

and read political essays in Japanese.

But such academic activities

led to the accusation of treason.

The last scene,

I don't remember too well,

the main character, to redeem himself,

went to look for the grave of his friend
who was executed.

He begs for forgiveness in Japanese.

He uses Japanese
to express his feelings.

That was very hard for me.

It's my most memorable scene
from Taiwan cinema.

I am sorry.

As filmmakers in Hong Kong
starting out in TV,

we were all quite close.

We would meet up in private

but could rarely work with each other.

But in Taiwan.

Filmmakers helped each other.

Hou Hsiao-Hsien sold his house

to finance Edward Yang's Taipei Story.

He'd done that before

with Growing Up.
He does that all the time.

That's a great atmosphere.

When I shot Ah-Fu over there

Yang also asked people to help me out.

They had a strong bond of friendship.

The 80s was an overwhelming
decade in Taiwan.

In Hong Kong
we only realized that later.

Edward Yang wanted to write about

people visiting their old homes
in China.

But things happened so fast,

there was no time to record them.

No time to write scripts.

Attention!

Face the front.

Eyes front!

At ease.

Attention!

Right turn.

Stupid!

Left turn.

Watch your brother.

C'mon, pay attention, will you?

Wrong again, you're twisting.

Don't you know how to turn?

Attention!

At ease.

Attention!

At ease.

Right turn.

You have to make the right sound.

Give it all you've got.

Attention!

Face the front!

The best films, to me,

capture the realities of their time,

and respond to them.

For me, Taiwan New Cinema
completely does this.

Whatever the period of those
films, old or modern,

they totally captured the spirit
of their times,

vividly, with a clear point of view.

Its humanism,

its concerns for society
are all very obvious.

Hong Kong cinema has also produced films

with similar sensibilities,

but there were limits
in Hong Kong films.

That is.

They had to remain commercial.

Commercial above all
with only a few exceptions.

I wouldn't call it a pressure

but certainly a natural condition

for survival.

But in Taiwan,

later on,

I know they also struggled

with the pressures

but they had great courage.

I don't Know where they got that from.

I wasn't aware if they suffered,

they didn't show it to me.

But they had persistence
and determination.

That's what I admire.

That's not obvious to Hong Kong people.

Why am I in Hong Kong?

Some students in China said

they expect to see gunfire
on the streets of Hong Kong,

or find the restaurants
full of Mafia meetings.

This is the common experience
for Chinese audiences

watching Hong Kong films.

In Hong Kong genre films

everything seems magical, surreal.

That creates misunderstandings.

But Taiwan is a different case.

Taiwan New Cinema...

On my first visit to Taiwan

I found that even
in a local store or hotel

people living, working,

the way they talk
mixing Mandarin and Taiwanese,

it feels very familiar
as if I've been there before.

It's hard to find those feelings

in China's Fifth Generation films,

Ju Dou or Yellow Earth, say,

those films seemed far away to us.

Their approach is very different.

It's not about judging which is better

just a shortcoming in this respect.

Of all the Taiwan New Cinema directors,

I felt closest to Wang Tung.

In films like Strawman,

and Hill of No Return,

with rural situations,

the cruelty and absurdity of that,

he dealt with it beautifully.

It was close to my experience
in Sichuan.

With Dust In The Wind,

and A Time To Live, A Time To Die,

I didn't expect films
could be so down to earth.

Wang has a unique sense of humor,

and a sense of the soil

that differs from Hou Hsiao-Hsien's.

Another influential director

is Edward Yang.

Once I got to know more about city life,

and learned more about myself,

his films really touched me.

Now, looking back,

they are like prophecies
for China today.

The interpersonal relationships
in modern cities.

I don't understand the strategy
of giant corporations.

They even merge companies in dispute.

That's what they are good at.

These things make you
believe more and more in fate.

It doesn't matter how careful you are,

the slightest error can
lead to fatal consequences.

You don't believe me?

I don't want to be so pessimistic.

Look at these buildings,

I'm more and more confused.

I don't know which ones I designed
which ones I didn't.

They all look the same.

It's like I don't exist.

When I first contacted these filmmakers

trying to understand the topics
they were dealing with,

I realized two things.

In Hou's films I sensed
something Chinese

before seeing a Taiwaneseness.

At that time there were
no modern films in China.

Not in 1984. But in 85-86
modern films like

Yellow Earth and Red Sorghum appeared...

Ok, but I can't agree with that.

Even though I like these films

their modernity is far behind

that of Hou in terms of purity
and boldness.

I agree, my point is,

in The Boys From Fengkuei or That Day
On The Beach

I see traces of Western films.

For example, A Summer At Grandpa's
reminds me of Rossellini,

That Day, On The Beach makes me
think of Antonioni.

But when I watch Yellow Earth
I don't find those resonan

I think it's from a totally
eccentric film world.

It's not about which is better
or more modern,

just a matter of signs.

I must confess

the reason I'm attracted
to the films of Hou and Yang

is that they don't carry exotic signs,

rather, the spirit of modern films.

Had they appeared in Italy or France,

I'd be impressed also.

To me, the key thing is

they brought Taiwan cinema
into the realm of modern cinema.

But you still say it's Chinese.

When I watched

The Boys From Fengkuei,

during the whole 90 minutes

I was totally lost in the film.

Give me the money. Quick!

Give me the change.

Go through there.

Hurry, or the cops will be here.

There's nothing here.

Damn, we were cheated.

It's in Cinemascope, in full color!

After I finished the film,

I strongly felt it was about me,

about my friends,

and the young people around me.

I've no idea

how this film from Taiwan

could reflect myself so truthfully.

Now looking back,

the film shows Taiwan's
changing economy,

as well as the change
in its political atmosphere.

In the 90s when I studied film

China was undergoing
similar economic change.

A time for political change too,

though 10 years later than Taiwan.

But the change was very similar.

Taiwan New Cinema, as a current

or as a film movement,

has brought me great inspiration.

Those films connect to reality,

personal experience
and memories very closely.

This attitude towards culture
or writing style,

was interrupted in China
during the Cultural Revolution.

To me, these films connect

to a tradition of Chinese cinema,

like those in the 20s and 30s,

even to the literary tradition
of that time.

You go home first, I'm not going back.

Where are you going?

How can I go home alone?

Don't be like this.

Taiwan New Cinema
is in fact pretty slow.

It takes effort to watch.

It's not easy to apprehend.

At that time I just felt...

I like watching Taiwan New Cinema

because it reveals something attractive.

I think it didn't involve
the society directly

but rather indirectly.

In an interesting way

you can feel the connection
something of that time,

but what's said goes beyond

its time and covers different views.

I think it's quite special.

What's your name?

I came to clarify something.

I'm Liu Xiaodong. I'm a painter.

Not too familiar with movies,

haven't watched films systematically.

I remember the first film I saw

was Taipei Story.

Starring Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Tsai Chin.

It's a very quiet film.

I remember one of its lines.

Tsai walks slowly into
the foreground and says:

“Did you go to Tokyo this time?”

Hou appears in the background and says:

He moves out of frame
then back in again:

"without stopping."

Experts may have different opinions,

but when I think of this film,

just this shot and this line alone,

expresses a lot of psychology.

Chin, we're going over to Lai's.

Got some video tapes for him.

I might watch them play chess.

You staying over or going home tonight?

Staying.

Then I'll see you.

Lon!

Lon!

Did you go to Tokyo on your way back?

Just in transit, didn't stay.

Being attached to this world

while keeping a distance from it.

Because once involved
you can no longer be objective.

I find this kind of esthetics
very inspirational.

What I learned the most is

to keep a distance from
all fixed values.

Once you take that perspective,

whether you're a painter
photographer or writer,

with this attitude

you can see the bigger picture.

The first time I watched Taiwan cinema
was in New York.

I think it was
the New York Film Festival

I watched A Time to Live, A Time to Die,

then A City of Sadness.

That's it.

Didn't you ask me my first time?

Should I say some more?

When I watched the work
of Hou Hsiao-Hsien

I was totally blown away.

I never expected to see in
Chinese-language films

something of such quality.

So calm and tranquil,

with unique texture and rhythm.

A Time To Live, A Time To Die
is an important film for me.

I was 17, first year of film school.

One evening that summer,

during military training,

there was an outdoor film screening.

Each one of us had a blanket
tied up like a backpack.

Carrying our backpacks
we ran to a very large sports field.

Then we sat on the blankets.

They projected the film
onto a gigantic screen.

It was dark all around

and the screen was glowing brightly.

Everybody was transfixed,

listening to: 'Ahao-gu! Ahao-gu!'

The wind was blowing strongly.

In the woods around the field

the leaves were rustling.

In the dark, by myself
I was deeply captivated by the screen

I realized from now on
I will be making films.

I was touched and excited.

Either Hou Hsiao-Hsien or Edward Yang

Kept in themselves something unique:

so-called humanism.

That is what a true artist should have.

A very personalized thinking

that connects feeling with local reality

through a deep relationship

and a deep understanding.

That's something that has been
destroyed in China.

It's a very special quality.

When it emerged from Taiwan

it certainly earned
the island some respect.

Because if Taiwan can produce
such directors,

it says a lot about China.

In A Brighter Summer Day,

the narrative is very strong,

but it also has a great sense
of history,

in particular how you remember history.

It's realistic and personal.

Yes, real and individual.

Because there are many kinds
of memories.

Some are macroscopic,

some are fleeting and individual.

Of these two,

I think Taiwan New Cinema shows
more individual memories.

We have undergone a history
of Communism,

That's why the Fifth Generation
didn't act

like the Taiwanese directors.

They didn't communicate with each other.

It's because of
our historical situation.

The work of Zhang Yimou
or Chen Kaige for example,

they made good films,

but those films were limited.

But Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Edward Yang
didn't have this problem.

- I don't see any artistic limitation

in Farewell My Concubine.

I see only stories.

Go and watch those films again, do it.

It's all built on dialogue.

- I think they have a very high
quality visual language.

There's no people.

- Huh?

But Hou's films are different.

In his films, take any scene,

they're human beings.

- Really?

They are real people in his films.

- Only ordinary people are people?

No, no matter the character
they are alive.

- So you think Cheng and Duan
are not people

but historical signs?

It's collective cinema.

We need to change this, but how?

Not by changing visual style

or formal explorations.

Most important is people
people and cinema.

I like Taiwan New Cinema because it has

this relationship between
people and cinema.

It feels real...

- Define a precise context in which

these films are important,

instead of in general terms!

Chinese literature
in the history of Chinese literature...

Without the Records
of the Grand Historians,

what is left?

- Many

- Like what?

- Like The Lament,

and Nine Songs.

- But its two different issues.
- It's more than two issues!

You can't take something
out of context and blow it up.

- Look, literature's not our field,

I'm just saying

why this book's important to me.

Because after all these centuries,

it's still alive.

It's still so vivid and truthful...

- OK, we don't question this.

- What I mean is,

this book is unique in Chinese history.

Taiwan New Cinema is also special. Why?

It's not a collective product.

It has individual perspectives,

looking at a specific time
and revealing some truth.

That's what's important.

Also what's lacking in
Fifth Generation films.

I'm not denying the value
of Chinese cinema

but I think its biggest problem is...

- Exactly, in ancient times

we had 'history-oriented' accounts,

taking an historical point of view
for the sake of it.

But from Five Dynasties,

there was an awakening
of individual perception,

that was progress.

You can't bulldoze it all,

ignoring this little yet
important change.

It brought out the value of people,

though I reckon it's not as concrete

as in Taiwan New Cinema...

- But it's so different!

In fact, I'm mostly interested in

the dynamics within the movement,

how close the filmmakers
were to each other.

We saw Hou act in Yang's films.

Hou also produced Yang.

It was a lifestyle.

For me Taiwan New Cinema in the 80s

was also a kind of life experience
through filmmaking.

Maybe the fading of the movement

is related to Taiwan's democratization.

A City of Sadness, I think...

fulfilled the need of a time.

There was a strong demand

from the society for such a film.

There's no need for nostalgia.

It's just that a certain way
of filmmaking is gone.

As for Hou and Yang,

I don't know if they met up

during Yang's last days.

Did they have tea together?

Did they share ideas about films?

What we should remember is maybe

She broke up with Hao-Hao,

but he always tracked her down.

Called her...

Begged her to come back...

Again and again.

As if under a spell

or hypnotized...

She couldn't escape.

She always came back.

She told herself...

that she had 500,000 in the bank.

When she'd used it up,

she would leave him for good.

I don't think...

I don't consider myself connected
to Taiwan New Cinema.

I am different.

I don't carry that burden.

I just think filmmaking
is an individual thing.

Doing your own thing.

So, you know... but people still drag me in

because of the box office.

If you consider film as an art form,

a film is like a classic.

Its value is not determined
by the audience.

It's determined by time.

Not of the moment,

but over the long term.

It's there.

Waiting for you to mature.

Taiwan New Cinema couldn't
be a widespread phenomenon.

Like all art films.

A long time ago, elsewhere, maybe.

Those who came after us were affected

by the aftermath of Taiwan New Cinema,

and they suffered.

But also because of the circumstances.

It was the downfall of the industry.

Nothing you could do.

Whether the industry prospers or not,

has nothing to do
with your artistic choices.

It's not connected.

All artistic expression
is rooted in its time.

It's the context that shapes it.

It's impossible otherwise.

Is there a new cinema now?

I don't see it.

Of course youngsters always
try new stuff.

It's the era of the Internet!

They're exposed to all kinds
of visual languages.

But we haven't seen a new cinema yet.

What is new cinema?

All forms have been tried before

to the point that there are
no new tricks.

The most important is still content,

content of its times.