[yearning]

Has anyone watched them? I'm so conflicted...I hated them last month when I first saw a couple, but now they keep coming back to haunt me. I keep getting images of them stuck in my head. Now I think I can appreciate it more. It's one of those movies where you can barely sit through, but if you make the effort, you do grasp something from them.

And god, this guy is depressing. He doesn't even have an interesting script like WKW, and is 10x slower than WKW (yeah I know....)...Yet there's something special about him.

I think he depicts bitter reality very well...esp the mundane parts. If you want a look at how boring and pointless life can be, go for his movies. I know that's not what they are about, but often that's what it boils down to. And in the end, everyone moves on. Non-exciting things happen, a person's pathetic love/life story is told, and then they all eventually do move on. None of them die heroic deaths, get reunited with lovers, live glorious/particularly tragic lives.

And I think that's the most depressing part. That people like us, normal people are living their lives without meaning, they have to face/resolve problems, and eventually move on. Because there really isn't a true resolution for most things. You deal with it in the way that's most appropriate at the moment, and move on. And when you look back, you can't help but gasp at how much time has past. Was it just a dream?


I give props to anyone who actually sits through his movies full on....I think I need to be more mature to do that without wanting to rip my hair out. But some of his scenes I do like.

And now, Millennium Mambo:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ILtQIQzfzDM

P.S. And his movies really give me insight to Taiwanese culture, the non-idol side of it, which I kind of find interesting. I wish more of Taiwanese culture in this light could be popularized rather than the idol hype.

[PJ]

When I saw this topic, I wondered: "Good God, someone on SPCNET wants to talk about HHH? I want to know who is this enlightened warrior."

And it is the mighty yearning herself!

Originally Posted by yearning

Has anyone watched them? I'm so conflicted...I hated them last month when I first saw a couple, but now they keep coming back to haunt me. I keep getting images of them stuck in my head.

Yep yep, that's what good films do to you.

When I like a movie too much right away, I know that they won't last on my list.

The ones where I have to dig deeper to understand, have been the most rewarding ones.

Although, I still hate Flowers of Shanghai.... never did get through it the first time.

If you want a look at how boring and pointless life can be, go for his movies. I know that's not what they are about, but often that's what it boils down to.

Actually, it might be an objective of his films to depict the emptiness of contemporary life.

His films depict the country side more often, whereas Edward Yang and Tsai Ming Liang tend to go for the big city environment. But in my favorite HHH movie "Good Men, Good Women," HHH contrasted the richness of 1950s life (or somewhere near there) with the meaningless modern life. It was easy to see in that movie that although life in the 50s was more dangerous, it was more meaningful.

See if you track down that movie.

[sunnysnow]

The only movie I've ever watched by him is "A City of Sadness". Like what yearning mentioned, I felt pretty down and slightly depressed after sitting through the full 3-hour plus film. The down side for me was that the entire movie was in Hokkien and the subtitles were in traditional mandarin! But yeah, Hou places alot of emphasis on depicting realism and the simple tools he use are usually rich in meaning. Reminds me a little of Zhang Yimou's or Chen Kaige's earlier films.

[yearning]

It's really hard to explain the effect his movies have on me...it's not really the fact that I "like" them. It's more like they "haunt" me in a way. I know I "like" Wong Kar Wai movies. Although depressing, I find them enjoyable to watch.

With HHH, it's more like I'm completely bored and uncomfortable watching them. But after, I see little reminescents of his movies in daily life...and that is more so depressing to me.

If I have lots of patience one day, I'll check out those films...

[sunnysnow]

Originally Posted by yearning

With HHH, it's more like I'm completely bored and uncomfortable watching them. But after, I see little reminescents of his movies in daily life...and that is more so depressing to me.

I wasnt bored sitting through "A city of sadness" but yes, there was always this slight feeling of unsettledness right from the very beginning. I still remember the opening scene vividly- it was of a woman giving birth, nothing graphic but VERY realistic. So were the fights and swearing etc.

[yearning]

Have you seen "Three Times"? That one is really boring...it's purely emotions/movements, hardly any dialogue (or meaningful ones at least) and very very very subtle. It was really difficult for me to swallow.

"Millennium Mambo" was easier to swallow, with more things "happening" and if you've seen "Days of Being Wild", I think there's a lot of similarities, despite being in completely different settings. Or maybe I like it better because there's "narration". People have compared this film to Wong Kar Wai before and I think there is that similarity, although it's stlll very distinctively HHH.