From 65438 to 0969, Hou Xiaoxian retired from the army and entered the film department of the then National Art College as his first choice (now it has been restructured into the National Art College). 1972, Hou Xiaoxian graduated from school successfully. This year, he was 25 years old. After graduation, Hou Hsiao-hsien wandered for a year, and finally participated in the filming of "Heart and Qian Qian Knot" directed by Li Hsing at 1973. This is his first official contact with film production. He is a reporter. After 1975, he wrote the movie script "Peach Blossom Woman Fighting Duke Zhou" and "Good Morning Taipei". 1979, served as the screenwriter and deputy director of films such as "I have braved the wind and waves". From then on, he began to step into the film circle. At first, he began to make people in Taiwan Province contact and like him, from Hà Thu in 1979, the cool autumn in 1980 to childhood friends and childhood memories in 1985. Among them, The Story of Xiao Bi (1933) won the Best Drama Award and the Best Screenplay Award in the 20th Golden Horse Award.
198 1 year, Hou Xiaoxian filmed the first feature film "She is Wandering". He was unique and boldly created a unique visual style with long shots, which later became the symbol of Hou Xiaoxian's films. 1982 Shooting Green Grass by the River. 1983, his shooting skills are improving day by day. The work "The Man in the Wind Cabinet" presents a quiet and leisurely fishing village scene. The protagonist A Qing and his companions do nothing all day. They watch white plays, gamble and fight bravely. Finally, once, they were punished by the police for making too much noise, so they left Fengge, a small island on the Penghu Islands, and their home came to the strange Kaohsiung. Everything has changed. They feel strange, strange, anxious and afraid of this city. In the transition of two life states, the emotion that Hou Xiaoxian wants to convey is self-evident. In the same year, he filmed My Son's Big Doll, which was my first contact with the film directed by Hou Xiaoxian. Yes, it's not "City of Sadness" or "Love in the Dust", but this film quietly reveals the father's love: Uncle Kun, an unemployed young man in a small town, works as a "sandwich advertiser" for the cinema in order to support his family. Dressed as a clown, he hung thick billboards in front of him and behind him, and wandered the streets in the scorching sun and heat to publicize. However, when Uncle Kun took off his makeup paint, his younger son didn't know his father and was scared to cry. He had no choice but to dress up as a clown again to win the favor of his son. When people around me smile, I have to wipe away the tears in my eyes and think of the father who used to be my horse. "The Man from the Fengge" and "My Son's Big Doll" also laid the narrative style of Hou Xiaoxian: just like a bystander, he sometimes talked in Kan Kan, sometimes kept silent, and calmly used his long lens to unfold endless scrolls full of China landscape paintings, while the small town in Taiwan Province Province, the teenager in plain clothes and the grandfather in Taiwan Province Province ... all let the audience wait and see under this simple lens.
From 65438 to 0985, Hou Xiaoxian planned to shoot the semi-autobiographical film Childhood, which was regarded as the masterpiece of his early works by film critics, but for most audiences, the long growth process it conveyed really made people cry. At the beginning of the film, his own voice tells the story of a family migration from Meixian to Fengshan, Taiwan Province. A quiet and fixed shot shows his childhood home and his father, the center of this home. Then the camera caught the grandmother and shouted "Gu!" In her gentle voice. That is, Hou Hsiao-hsien suddenly found its English title "Time to Live and Time to Die" in the subtitle, which is probably the idea expressed in Childhood Past! The three scenes of death in the film left a deep impression on everyone: from the grief of the whole family when his father died, to the solemn silence of his son when his mother died, and finally to the death of his grandmother, which has become a self-report with only narration. At the end of Childhood, Hou Xiaoxian recalled her mother-in-law's death with a narration: "I saw ants crawling in her mother-in-law's hands, only to find that she might have been dead for a long time ..." It seemed that the narration with more regret than sadness suddenly filled the whole picture with faint sadness. Some people say that Hou Xiaoxian's works are romantic and poetic. Then "childhood" is just the most natural annotation of this statement.
Hou Xiaoxian's early works not only successfully created a kind of "visual realism" in aesthetics, but also recorded the "growth process" of Taiwan Province Province through the choice of characters and spaces and the arrangement of plots and stories. The former is aesthetic feeling, and the latter is the situation and social relationship of people's life in a specific historical time and space; The former attracts the audience's attention, while the latter highlights the audience's social status. Under the long lens, the audience pays attention to this society from a distance, but clearly feels a strong emotional accumulation at a close distance-simple villages, vivid fields and people who follow the rules on the screen are dotted with time and space on a preset life trajectory, and stories often happen in such years and places. In Hou Xiaoxian's movies, we saw the games we played as children, the experience of waiting for adults to come back at the door, and the joy of eating an ice cream ... These trivial and plain plots seem to only attract children, but they just constitute a work that touched the whole cinema. If Hou Hsiao-hsien tried to convince the audience to be moved through the lens, or that it was not Hou Hsiao-hsien who touched the hearts of the audience, it was ourselves who really touched us.
1987 "The Daughter of the Nile" made Hou Hsiao-hsien suffer unprecedented criticism: the length of the lens was much longer than that of "Green Grass by the River", and several still long shots were used instead of split shots, which made many people who used to appreciate the style of long shots doubt this confusing "Hou-style" lens, although in this film, Hou Hsiao-hsien tried to show that it was hidden under the neon lights in Taipei. In The Daughter of the Nile, the character is shot, suddenly shot, and then dies. There is no prior arrangement at all, and there is no way to let the audience's emotions brew slowly. Although Hou Xiaoxian thinks that deliberate arrangement represents the lack of nature, it is unbearable. Hou Hsiao-hsien accepted all well-meaning or provocative criticisms, but he was more silent than usual. Love Dust swept away the obscure lens meaning in Daughter of the Nile, and what appeared in the audience's sight was an ordinary and true love story and natural life course. The hero went to Kinmen to be a soldier, and there was a mutiny. The heroine married the postman who delivered letters every day. This could have been finished in one sentence, but it really took 102 minutes to see people's hearts. Everyone tries to find their own shadow through movies. Everyone knows that it's no one's fault that this love ended, but they will still follow Ah Yuan's eyes and watch him return to the distant mountains of his hometown, and then unconsciously find that he has shed tears and touched the towel.
After two years of silence, he finally showed the world his masterpiece "City of Sorrow". He successfully completed a natural fade-in and fade-out from paying attention to the growth process of people's livelihood in Taiwan Province Province to paying attention to social and historical issues. However, "people" is still Hou Xiaoxian's eternal concern. Speaking of "City of Sadness", I believe that too many people appreciate and taste it in their own way, and many scenes in the film have become well-known classics. The beauty and bitterness of "City of Sadness" make everyone who has seen it unable to let go. This is a large-scale production with historical events as the background. The camera is still on one side of the picture, and it is still the kind of indifferent voiceover. It is still a soft and vivid aura of warm affection. Everyone is familiar with it. It's still Hou Xiaoxian! The sadness in "The City of Sorrow" comes from the love that Wen Qing and Kuan Mei struggled to maintain on the edge of time and space, from the tolerance and passionate singing of "Exile Trilogy", and also from "You should live with dignity. Although your father died in prison, please believe that his father is innocent. " The suicide note comes from the dignity of people who have been trampled and ignored in the historical background. The City of Sorrow has left the most painful memory for the long-standing taboos and fears of the people in Taiwan Province Province. Both the official narrative represented by Chen Yi and the generous diary in the film show the audience that the historical narrative of the so-called recovery of Taiwan Province is so broken and sad. Hou Hsiao-hsien himself said in an interview: "The feeling that this film wants to capture is more like singing an old Taiwan Province song than trying to annotate the history of Taiwan Province in the past few decades. The lyrics are simple and the emotions are direct, but both the singer and the listener will find their own space in the song, not escape, but human resilience. " .
During the period of 1993, Hou Xiaoxian quietly released his new work "Dream of Life", which is a documentary recording the bumpy life of puppet master Li Tianlu during his colonial rule in Taiwan Province Province. Hou Hsiao-hsien's personal memories of the director's remolding of the scene created a memoir of Li Tianlu with alternate time and space and multiple perspectives. Once again, it shows the sorrow of people who have been ruthlessly suppressed by history. In order to properly present the half-life experience of this Taiwan Province provincial artist, Hou Xiaoxian gave up the individual close-up effect to avoid the deliberate manipulation of the audience's perspective by montage, and tried to push the audience out of any specific perspective, thus isolating the audience from the inner world of the characters and capturing the non-dramatic daily activities with a calm mind. "Life itself is history" is the concept that Hou Xiaoxian believes in. The soundtrack of this movie is also very special. Taiwan Province's Qin Yue replaced the traditional guitar. Through Qin Yue, those songs from the countryside are sung through simple voices, but in an instant, they are scattered in noisy crowds or in the earthy air. Much like Hou Hsiao-hsien's film style-no matter how much pain and emotion, when the camera turns, there are mountains and green waters everywhere.
From 65438 to 0995, Hou Xiaoxian continued his long-shot style, but gave up the composure of the still lens, which brought the dynamic effect of shaking up and down, which surprised many fans who were familiar with him at that time. The love described in "Good Men and Good Women" has also been clearly marked with the brand of the times: the girl Jiang Biyu was only sixteen or seventeen when she met Zhong. At that time, Jiang was a young nurse, Zhong was a little neurotic and was hospitalized because of overwork. They often chat together. At that time, Zhong had a strong sense of country, saying that he was a revolutionary and could not get married. Jiang Biyu always listens to him and talks about his lofty ideals and romantic motherland consciousness. This is a lifelong event ... Three films, Good Men and Good Women, Dream Life and City of Sorrow, which are released continuously and reflect different times and backgrounds, have become the "Tragedy Trilogy" in Taiwan Province Province. This is also a remarkable feature of Hou Xiaoxian's mid-term creation: direct dialogue with the past history of Taiwan Province Province, the narrative timeline is no longer single, and different time and space are staggered.
Flowers on the Sea 65438 to 0998 is a gorgeous and decadent work. It is said that the whole brothel was built in Taiwan Province Province, and artists took great pains to find "useless things" that can reflect the traces of life. Shanghai Flower, Shanghai Flower, is a famous prostitute in the British Concession in Shanghai. Unfortunately, they are kept in the greenhouse and can only wait for the most beautiful flowering period in vain. Although they are welcomed and loved, they are still lonely. Gorgeous, but decadent. It is hard to imagine that Hou Hsiao-hsien of Taiwan Province would be so fluent and reserved when filming Old Shanghai. It is also said that when Hou Xiaoxian answered a reporter's question about the time and space limitation of Flowers on the Sea, he said, "... look at the lives of those prostitutes from a calm and objective perspective, so I deliberately did not shoot the location because they were trapped in this situation and could not run away." In fact, everyone is born in this society and cannot run away. " This assertion is really cool.
It is said that Hou Xiaoxian is planning his new film "Millennium Mambo": the whole film is divided into seven episodes, such as "Five Million Love" and "Love Stopped Yesterday", etc. Each episode will be edited for 3 minutes and broadcast on the Internet first, so that netizens can respond and question, and continue to develop new stories based on this theme. Such a branch will extend indefinitely, and the framework of traditional movies will be completely broken. Thinking that Hou Xiaoxian can be so avant-garde, his smile has long been on his lips.
In Taiwan Province Province, I only like him for movies and people; And I respect him very much (you know it's not like respecting my elders, because I'm a little reluctant). ) but sincere respect from the heart. His attitude towards life is very similar to his performance in movies, and he can always show his great spirit in nature. (Wu Nianzhen)
-Friend Hou Xiaoxian
Just when I was addicted to the recollection and yearning for Hou Xiaoxian's films, I found that Hou Xiaoxian in the documentary had sung karaoke with his good friends, leaving Wu Nianzhen to complain about how his earth-shattering first love story "Love Dust" was "ravaged" and "destroyed" by Hou Xiaoxian. How did Zhu Tianwen write his childhood memories into the winter vacation and winter vacation?
At the beginning, when Wu Nianzhen and Tayu Lo co-wrote The Same Moonlight, they never thought that he would be Hou Xiaoxian's best partner. Wu Nianzhen's movie "Dosan" is the Japanese name of "Father". Deeply influenced by Hou Xiaoxian's film style, Wu Nianzhen's films not only show the influence of patriarchal culture, but also tell a touching father-son relationship. The Dust Settles tells the story of Wu Nianzhen's first love. On the poster of "The Dust Settles", the hero and heroine wear high school uniforms and walk on the rails. Childhood pure and sweet love arises spontaneously. Every time I see this poster that has been collected for many years, I am always grateful. Because of the cooperation between Hou Hsiao-hsien and Wu Nianzhen, everyone fell into the dim picture in the movie and the faint sadness of the first love. Zhu Tianwen is a typical female representative. She is used to the decadent or dramatic emotional overlap described in her novels as a spiritual date with readers. However, I didn't expect her works to be so touching when interpreted as still long shots in Hou Xiaoxian's images. The discontinuity and irrelevance of Hou Xiaoxian's film narrative are fully reflected in Winter Holiday, while Zhu Tianwen superimposed the whole film with short stories, so that the audience can naturally integrate into the film. This film is very popular, and the old friend relationship between Zhu Tianwen and Hou Xiaoxian has been confirmed. As Zhu Tianwen said, "Don't be bitter or cynical, just focus on what you want to do. I often fall down, then get up again and go on the road happily. " And she, he, he will follow closely on this road.
Hou Hsiao-hsien, the hero of childhood friends, got his stage name "Hou Pai" and Pizza Hou because his face looks like a full moon.
Pai Hou Xiaoxian
In a place where Hou Xiaoxian was introduced, I couldn't help laughing when I saw the above sentence. I remember that in the documentary, he would touch the child's head for no reason, smiling, and his face was really pie. Then I saw him and Gao Jie singing loudly in KTV. Who would have thought that such a lovely person would make a movie like "City of Sadness", which is full of endless depression and sadness? It is said that the creative impulse of "City of Sadness" originally came from the saxophone rhythm in a music called "Rain at Night" in Hong Kong, and I was very moved. "I want to make the songs of Taiwan Province Province into that kind of river and lake atmosphere, erotic and romantic, with some local hooligans and Japanese." (Hou Xiaoxian), unexpectedly, Hou Xiaoxian also has a rich voice, singing the theme song of the movie Dosan, intoxicated by it, immersed in his eyes, very warm. But don't think he will be a super nostalgic person. He recently started a website-Teasing Movie Network. Anyone who has been to the website will have a novel feeling. The large layout, bright colors, avant-garde narration and exquisite essays of the website are unforgettable. However, Hou Xiaoxiande's first intimate contact with the Internet was in 1998 when Flowers on the Sea had a website, and he began to have a little concept. Unexpectedly, in two years, he already knew this. No wonder he is good at taking long shots, and now he claims: "Movies need close observation!"
In the late spring of 2000, I was alone in a small studio, watching a documentary-The Portrait of Hou Xiaoxian (HHH: Portrait of Hou Xiaoxian in Taiwan and France, 1997). Seeing Hou Xiaoxian chewing betel nuts, eating stalls, drinking tea for the elderly and singing karaoke, I couldn't help shouting "Shuang" with Hou Xiaoxian at the end of the film!
Chronology of Hou Xiaoxian's Works:
Actor's work
Notre Dame Day: HHH, portrait of Hou Xiaoxian (1997)
Days without sunshine (1990)
I'm a bitch (1986)
Mei Qing Ma Zhu (1985) grew up.
Fu Shen (1986)
Childhood friends (1985) ... 28: 1) (Bible) Aaron (brother of Moses
Director works
Our Best Times (2005)
Coffee Time Coffee Jikou (2003)
Son's Big Doll Sandwich Man (2003)
The Wind Cabin Boy (2002)
The name of the Millennium Mambo Rose (200 1)
Cao Qingqing (1999) with lush grass by the river.
Farewell to South China, Zaijian in South China, South China (1999)
Flower of Shanghai (1998)
Haonan Haonu (1995)
Mr Simon of Dream Life (1993)
Sad City Sad City (1989)
Chen Feng repeatedly (1987)
Niro's Daughters Niro and Nur (1987)
Past survival time and death time of childhood (1986)
Qijia Winter and Winter Holidays (1984)
Screenplay works
Our Best Times (2005)
Coffee Time Coffee Jikou (2003)
Little Bi's Story Little Picot Stone (2003)
Cao Qingqing (1999) with lush grass by the river.
I went to Dong Tian last winter (1995).
Past survival time and death time of childhood (1986)
Kidd Street in the Hometown of Bamboo (1985)
Mei Qing Ma Zhu (1985) grew up.
Youma Zaizai (1983), the seed of rape.
Good morning Taipei (1979)
Deputy director:
1. It rained yesterday (1979)
2. Cuihu cold (1978)
3. The War between Boys and Girls (1978)
Producer:
1. Just live for you for one day (1993)