Title: When Cinema Reflects the Times Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
The silver screen brings about all kinds of things in the dark
a character, an era or a history.
21 SEPTEMBER 1993
In September this year
Taiwanese film director Hou Hsiao-hsien visited Japan
HOU HSIAO-HSIEN, DIRECTOR
with his first new film in four years.
His new film The Puppetmaster
is set during the period when Taiwan was under Japanese rule.
The film follows the first half of the life of puppeteer Li Tien-lu.
LI TIEN-LU (84-YEARS-OLD)
At the press conference
Hou talked about his motivation for making the film.
What I discovered was that currently in Taiwan
for many people
who are of a similar age as me or younger
they basically have no understanding
of Taiwan’s entire historical background.
I feel it's very strange
that they lack a deep understanding of this land.
Li's experience gave him a greater desire to understand Taiwan.
EDWARD YANG, DIRECTOR
Edward Yang, 46, is of the same age as Hou.
He is also one of the leading film directors in Taiwan.
He just started shooting his new film A Confucian Confusion in Taipei.
The technicians are brought in from Hong Kong
and the shooting techniques are from Hollywood.
A majority of the crew and the actors are youngsters from Taiwan.
Most are newcomers in the industry.
WHAT IS A CONFUCIAN CONFUSION ABOUT?
A Confucian Confusion tells a story about young people
who have just entered society in Taipei.
Actually this is a depiction of the contemporary environment in Taipei.
It is a comedy.
Young people seem to be inspiring his filmmaking.
Hou grew up in a traditional Chinese cultural environment in rural Taiwan
while Yang grew up in central Taipei
influenced by American culture since an early age.
As two figures from contrasting backgrounds
Hou and Yang are working together to paint a portrait of Taiwan.
Action!
WHEN CINEMA REFLECTS THE TIMES: HOU HSIAO-HSIEN AND EDWARD YANG
The festivities begin suddenly with the sound of firecrackers.
Once a year, a shopping street in Taipei
welcomes over 30 gods from all over Taiwan.
These gods would stay in this place for about a month.
In order to entertain these distinguished guests...
the townspeople organize various events
such as operas and puppet shows.
Only movies today. Only showing movies today.
What movie?
What movie...
Here comes the projectionist.
I’ll try asking him.
Here, here. This is the projectionist.
What movie is playing today?
It's posted up every day. When was it ever not posted up?
If nothing is posted up, would I be projecting anything?
What are you showing today?
Jidaigeki [Japanese historical drama]?
A kung fu film and a horror film.
IRON MISTRESS [TAIWAN SWORD-FIGHTING FILM] GHOST OF THE FOX [HONG KONG HORROR FILM]
Chanbara [sword-fighting film]
He says the film is going to be a jidaigeki.
[Jokingly] You’re being filmed. Stop smoking!
Movies have been screened in Taiwan’s streets for a long time.
Movies are for people to enjoy
but they're also a sacrifice to the gods.
It’s the end of November.
Hou is shooting a commercial for a Japanese company.
It’s a scene where the protagonist learns by phone
that his baby is about to be born.
And the husband rushes to his wife's side.
The light coming through the hallway windows isn’t quite what they want.
They are having to reshoot many times.
Hou was born in 1947 in Guangdong Province on the mainland.
He moved to Taiwan with family when he was one-year-old.
A TIME TO LIVE, A TIME TO DIE
In the strongly autobiographical film A Time to Live, a Time to Die
the atmosphere of Taiwan's countryside
and the lively figures of the children from the time
are captured in a picture full of natural light.
Go away, go away.
DUST IN THE WIND
He entered the film industry in 1973
and made his directorial debut in 1980.
Then came A Summer at Grandpa’s.
In works such as Dust in the Wind
he exquisitly portrayed the everyday life of Taiwanese people.
Having turned 46 this year
he is one of the major ascendant directors in the world today
along with Wim Wenders and Jim Jarmusch.
EDWARD YANG, DIRECTOR
After returning from his studies in America
Yang entered the film industry.
He has been depicting the anxiety and despair of Taiwan's urban dwellers.
Hou and Yang have acted in each other's films.
But now they're growing distant.
Yang was born in Shanghai in 1947
and moved to Taiwan when he was two-years-old.
His parents were both civil servants
raising him in an environment of economic and cultural privileges.
Growing up in Taipei
he was immersed in American culture
during the 1950s and 1960s.
His works pulsate with a sense of urbanity
A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY
composed of such youthful life experiences.
[‘Why’ playing] ♪ I'll never let you go ♪
♪ Why? because I love you ♪
His most famous work, A Brighter Summer Day
is set in the Taipei of the 1960s, where he grew up.
It describes a boy’s encounter with a girl
and how he falls in love, faces betrayal and eventually perpetrates murder.
The story unfolds on a screen in darkness
as if to symbolize the chaos and gloom of the era.
You’re nice to me just so I’ll be nice to you.
Then you’ll feel secure, right?
You’re so selfish.
You want to change me?
I’m like this world.
The world will never change!
Who do you think you are...
Take two.
Right, right, right, you should be like...
What are you doing? How can you let a rookie handle this?
Actually the volume doesn’t have to be so high.
It’s when you’ve done something wrong
and it’s like ‘how can you do that’.
You don’t have to raise your volume so much.
You must show the anxiety
some feelings of weakness.
Then ‘the Yin and the Yang are balanced’.
‘Independence’ suggests being self-directed and self-reliant.
And this concept exists only very vaguely in the Confucian society.
In contemporary society
it is very necessary to be self-directed and self-reliant.
This is a problem the Chinese society has long had to face.
He tries to portray from his own perspective
the Taiwan in which he grew up.
The film is being loaded.
With the rolling sound, a white screen appears in the darkness.
This is how films always start.
About a hundred years ago, in 1892
the first film was screened in Paris, France.
The history of cinema commenced at that time.
Then in the same year, 1895
Taiwan entered an era of turbulence.
In this year
Japan's victory in the Sino-Japanese War marked the beginning
of Japanese rule in Taiwan.
The chaos of Taiwan's contemporary history arguably began here.
In Taipei, there exists a cinema symbolizing Taiwanese history
the Red House Theater, a theatre built in 1907.
They want to film our ordinary life
drinking tea, talking, going to the toilet...
The theatre's manager, Yang Jung-hua
started out as a drama actor after the war
MANAGER YANG JUNG-HUA (69-YEARS-OLD)
and became the manager 20 years ago.
He has witnessed the transformation of this theatre.
Back when the Japanese were still here...
THE HISTORY OF RED HOUSE THEATER
this was where they killed people and buried the bodies.
That's why this place is built in the shape of an octagon.
the octagon serves as an amulet to repose the spirits of the dead.
When this building was rebuilt
...it was originally made of wood, but now it is built with concrete...
many bones were dug up, the bones of dead people.
Then they were dug up and buried elsewhere.
So this theatre was called the Octagonal Palace.
THE PUPPETMASTER now in theatres
Hou's new film is also set in the Taiwan under Japanese rule.
GLOVE PUPPETRY
This film uses a traditional Taiwanese puppet opera...
called ‘glove puppetry’.
It depicts the tumultuous life of Li Tien-lu.
LI TIEN-LU
The film tells the story of a puppeteer surviving the turbulent times
as a piece of epic poetry
interspersing Li's own narrative and theatrical drama in exquisite detail.
The film tries to show an archetype of the Taiwanese
through the language and mannerisms of Li.
For Hou
his presence is significant.
I think Mr Li’s great charisma comes from
the fact that he is a pure product of the traditional Chinese ways.
We often say that a person must live up to
the requirements of ‘human feelings and righteousness’.
I think Li has managed this well in a traditional fashion.
Although I employ the artform of cinema and he uses glove puppetry
I feel they express very similar things.
Hou vividly recorded the lives of Taiwanese people with his films.
After martial law was lifted
the February 28 Incident was still considered a taboo
in Taiwan's contemporary history.
The February 28 Incident happened in 1947
when post-war immigrants from the mainland who were called Waishengren
confronted the Benshengren who had been living in Taiwan since before the war.
Armed repression happened during a crackdown on illicit cigarettes.
Hou depicts a family living in the port city Keelung in northern Taiwan
and tells the story of their being at the mercy of a historical movement.
This is City of Sadness.
CITY OF SADNESS
CITY OF SADNESS (1989)
This film begins on 15 August 1945, with Emperor Hirohito's surrender broadcast.
It tells the story that happened during the two years
from this point to the February 28 Incident.
In the time between the two conflicts, some people died.
Some people disappeared.
But Hou continued
looking for the Taiwanese who struggled to survive this era.
Things such as Taiwan’s modern history are simply untouched in the movies.
So my thinking is just that I want to fill up as much of the emptiness as possible.
A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY (1991)
[‘Mr Blue’ playing] ♪ Our guardian star lost all his glow ♪
♪ The day that I lost you... ♪
As if in response to Hou's work, Yang also tried to reveal...
the dark history in one of his films.
This is A Brighter Summer Day released in 1991.
Desperately in love with a girl, a boy kills her with his own hands.
Just like Hou looking into the darkness of history
this film explores the dark side of a boy's coming of age
under martial law during the 1960s.
I don’t need anyone’s help.
No one can help anyway.
This film is based on a real event in a Taipei school that Yang attended.
'STUDENT HOOLIGAN KILLS GIRLFRIEND' 16 JUNE 1961
THE MOTIVATION FOR MAKING A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY
A thing from thirty years ago that if I don’t film, nobody else will.
Then nobody will ever know what it was like back then.
Eye witness testimony.
Movies can be eye witnesses of history.
However due to various political factors for a long time
the undepictable and unspeakable years only existed in the dark side of history.
Hou and Yang tried to shine a light on such darkness.
The complex political situation cast a shadow over movie theatres.
Most of us can’t play Japanese films now.
Western, domestic, Japanese, we have all of them.
When we still had a diplomatic relationship with Japan
we played Japanese films.
I have forgotten the titles of those Japanese films.
But now because the Japanese cut off diplomatic relations
those people higher up said that Japanese films can’t be played.
And they haven’t been played since.
Taiwan withdrew from the United Nations in 1971.
1972, JAPAN AND CHINA RESUME DIPLMATIC RELATIONS
Diplomatic relations between Japan and China were restored the following year.
Such a political background again overshadowed Taiwanese cinema.
THE COMPLEXITY OF 'TAIWAN' CASTS A SHADOW
Heeding the Sino-Japanese relationship
Tokyo International Film Festival
did not present A Brighter Summer Day as a Taiwanese film.
THE POLITICAL SHADOW OF 'CHINA-TAIWAN SIMULTANEITY'
VENICE, ITALY
Hou’s City of Sadness screened at the Venice International Film Festival
and won the Golden Lion.
It was very popular both in Taiwan and internationally.
However, the Taiwanese flag did not appear until the end of the festival.
The people involved danced at the banquet with a flag they had prepared themselves
celebrating the award.
Making a film in Taiwan means facing the dark side of the era.
After a day's shooting, Yang returns to his office.
After shooting, Hou is playing the soundtrack he has chosen for a commercial in his office
♪ CHEN MING-CHANG
composed by Chen Ming-chang.
He has also composed music for Hou's films.
What do you think?
Wouldn't it be weird to use it for a car driving scene?
Yeah, it would be a bit weird.
♪ This morning ♪
♪ Hearing a call from my oldest sister ♪
♪ I rushed to the hospital by car ♪
He listens to the music, improvises lyrics and sings.
The man who composed the music for Dust in the Wind and The Puppetmaster.
He is also writing the music for this commercial.
How is his music?
He is someone who is very knowledgeable on the guitar.
But he is not playing by theory.
He plays smoothly by feeling as if he were writing with a brush.
He improvises, not with his head but just as he feels it.
He’s a creative genius with an intuitive sense.
Ending a day's work.
I’ve been thinking.
Because a friend asked me to view And Life Goes On by that Iranian director.
Asked me to write something for him... That director is a jury member in Cannes.
After watching The Puppetmaster he didn’t sleep for the whole night.
Because the Iranian nation or the nations of the Middle East
actually face a condition that is very similar to Taiwan’s.
Thinking back to The Puppetmaster
I have always been looking for a direction.
It’s something about the human, which...
He is from the ethnic minority group known as the Hakka on the mainland.
Hou is a Waishengren who immigrated to Taiwan after the war
but he grew up in an area with a large Benshengren population.
He's more fluent in Taiwanese than in Mandarin.
Yang grew up with little connection to traditional Chinese culture.
He speaks Mandarin and English but not Taiwanese.
The crew have gathered for a meeting to prepare for tomorrow's shooting.
The two men approach and understand the younger generation differently.
One can feel that Yang has a strong desire to keep young people around and nurture them.
ON DEVELOPING THE YOUNGER GENERATION
Nowadays there are very few creators.
And even fewer crew members.
You can’t even put together three teams.
So everything is up to the film creator’s personal effort.
Because without a new generation you can’t have films in the future.
ON DEVELOPING THE YOUNGER GENERATION
My feeling is that [other than specific techniques]
if you get it you get it.
It can’t be taught.
What’s being conveyed is an ‘aspiration’.
The youth might get a sense of who I am or my attitude toward creative work.
Feel my will.
See a certain man.
And then they can sense a certain thing that might help them.
As I mentioned a moment ago
you're cultivating the soil
so that they may grow out of it.
That’s all you can do, sometimes not even that.
Those are the only two things you can do.
ALL RISE
THREE PRINCIPLES OF THE PEOPLE
’Three Principles of the People’ the Taiwanese national anthem
is still played before the screening of films.
If you leave the city centre and turn into an alley
you'll see the traditional Chinese life.
HOUDONG
Leaving the urbanising Taipei and going north
Taiwan takes on a different look.
During the Japanese colonial period, the town hosted the Mitsui Coal Mine.
Nowadays, some locals still occasionally come here
to collect small pieces of coal.
KEELUNG
Keelung was the port where the Japanese were repatriated after the war.
Then the Nationalist government landed here from the mainland.
It is still a thriving military port.
CHINGUASHI
Once flourishing from gold mining
such Japanese houses are no longer seen in Taipei.
These houses have been preserved.
Hou and Yang frequently come here for filming.
Excuse me. Is there a place to watch movies nearby?
There used to be. There was a company there.
It's over there by the pier.
Oh, that's where it is.
Have you ever been there to see a movie?
Yes, I did. I went when I was living and working here.
I went to see movies after work because I worked at the company.
We were quite familiar [so I was able to get cheap tickets].
Ten Taiwanese dollars for eight or nine tickets.
That's so cheap!
Yeah, movies are for us workers.
What’s happening here?
There is nothing left here.
The construction company is going to fold.
Underneath the bus station was the town community centre
and there was a screen there.
It's now unlit, lying quietly in darkness.
When I climbed the stairs to the third floor
I found myself in a projection room with film scattered on the floor.
This film is a performance of Three Principles of the People
the national anthem.
Layers upon layers
like a symbol of Taiwan's history.
This city takes on a very different look, depending on the history it holds.
The face of China, the face of Japan, the face of America.
With rapid economic development
Taiwan is about to undergo enormous transformation in all aspects.
The film industry is no exception.
Taiwan's film industry is dominated
by commercial films from Hong Kong and the United States.
In contrast, only about ten new films are released each year in the country.
Having witnessed a variety of historical moments in Taiwan
this lively theatre is now coming to an end after more than 80 years of history.
This place will be taken down completely.
This building is getting rebuilt into a large new building.
It’s already planned.
I think it’s happening in two years at most.
Ask him to film the theatre like this, as a memento.
You better shoot the whole theatre.
It won’t be there in the future.
-Thank you. -Don’t mention it.
The first screening starts at 11:00 am in the Red House Theater.
NATIONAL ANTHEM ANTHOLOGY OF CLASSIC FILMS
PLEASE STAND UP
三民主義 ♪ Three people's principles ♪
吾黨所宗 ♪ The foundation of our party ♪
With the melody of Three Principles of the People
the highlights in the history of Taiwanese cinema
以建民國 ♪ Using this, we establish the Republic ♪
are shown on the silver screen.
Such scenes seem to symbolize
the darkness and brightness Taiwan has experienced.
以進大同 ♪ Using this, we advance into a state of total peace. ♪
咨爾多士 ♪ Oh, you, righteous men ♪
為民前鋒 ♪ For the people, be the vanguard ♪
夙夜匪懈 ♪ Without resting day or night ♪
主義是從 ♪ Follow the Principles ♪
矢勤矢勇 ♪ Swear to be diligent; swear to be courageous ♪
必信必忠 ♪ Obliged to be trustworthy; obliged to be loyal ♪
一心一德 ♪ With one heart and one virtue ♪
貫徹始終 ♪ We carry through until the very end ♪
We're entering a chaotic new era.
What kind of scene do Hou and Yang hope to portray
PLEASE SIT DOWN
on the screen in contemporary Taiwan?
ABOUT CHANGING TIMES
An epoch is the most powerful when change is happening.
But the greatest creativity comes when the change is turning into unity
when a new situation is created.
In that moment, as a hundred flowers bloom
the creativity is the freshest and most powerful.
So I like that a lot.
ON FILMMAKING
People all over the world, they are people first.
Then they are Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, American or African.
If you don’t recognise that you are a person but only think you’re some kind of person
I think that kind of story is no longer interesting.
WHAT KIND OF FILM WOULD YOU LIKE TO MAKE IN THE FUTURE?
Thriller. Action film.
Suspense.
Action.
WHAT KIND OF FILM DO YOU WANT TO MAKE NEXT?
I think there are so many things I can film.
But there is only one point.
It’s about the Chinese nation.
Because I feel that
I am not adept enough with words
But images are like the modern equivalent of words.
I can use these modern words
as a new language and with new methods
to affirm the Chinese nation that I can sense.
The Chinese nation as a nation.
The film scrolls are stored up one by one
and the end credits' song starts playing.
During this music, people make their way home.
This is how movies always end.
Sir, do you remember the titles of the films you showed before?
Ah I don’t. They are too many.
I show two per day.
So it’s impossible. There are thousands of them.
Are you coming here tomorrow?
Yes, I'm coming tomorrow.
Where do you go after showing today's films?
It’s not certain.
If someone hires me, I’ll go there.
It’s not decided.
Crossing a chaotic age
The two men are still trying to add new glory to Taiwan's cinematic history.
Is it from an obsession with the Chinese nation
or a severance from tradition?
Or is it from an inquisitiveness toward the Chinese national identity?
While the light shines in the darkness, yet another new movie is born.
English subtitle by KM, Li Yiling, Yu Peiwen and Tom Cunliffe
Proofreading (Japanese): Akira Nakajima
Proofreading (Taiwanese/Minnan): Huang Yijing
Based in part on Chinese subtitle by zwitzki, kaofen and shuniverse