Quote:
A Complex Taiwan Tale Needs a Key
In a series of eloquent, dazzling and demanding films, the director Hou Hsiao-hsien has depicted the history of Taiwan through individuals with deeply moving life stories. The island itself — a Japanese colony before World War II, then controlled by the Nationalist Chinese with violent repression during the cold-war years — has come to seem his most treasured character. “City of Sadness,” shown at the New York Film festival in 1989, tells Taiwan’s story as a family saga. The poetic “Puppetmaster,” shown at the festival two years ago, layers Taiwan’s history with the biography of an aged puppet maker. Now, in “Good Men, Good Women,” Mr. Hou depicts Taiwan in an even more complex way, blending history with fiction, and juxtaposing the present with recent memories. He even includes a fact-based, black-and-white movie within this elegantly shot film. “Good Men, Good Women” will be shown as part of the New York Film Festival this afternoon at 2. It is one of the most richly imagined and also one of the most difficult films in the series.

The film is truly baffling unless you walk in knowing about the plot and characters and about the chronology that Mr. Hou shatters then asks his viewers to reconstruct. At the center is Liang Ching, a thoroughly contemporary actress who is receiving frightening faxes. Someone has stolen her diary, and when they fax copies of its pages back to her, they set off memories of her lover, Ah Wei, a shady character who was murdered several years before. The contemporary scenes and recent flashbacks are shot in bright, harsh colors that suggest the lurid unhappiness of Liang Ching’s life.

Liang Ching is also about to start filming a historical movie called “Good Men, Good Women.” As she prepares to play the heroine, Chiang Bi-yu, we see black-and-white episodes from the movie as she imagines it. In 1940, Chiang Bi-yu and her husband leave Taiwan for mainland China to fight the Japanese who are trying to take over the country. But they are almost executed as spies for the Japanese. After the war, back in Taiwan, they become political victims of the Nationalists.

Chiang Bi-yu’s story is told chronologically, with long sections scattered throughout the film. The product of Liang Ching’s imagination, this movie-in-a-movie is a stately, historical drama, the exact opposite of the sophisticated, fragmented story Mr. Hou is creating in the film’s larger view.

Using his typical style, Mr. Hou’s camera takes a serene, often distant position from all he observes, slowly allowing the pieces to fit together and the emotional resonance to make itself felt. The sad Liang Ching sees herself in the character she plays. In a flashback she remembers discussing a possible pregnancy and abortion with Ah Wei; in the black-and-white movie, Chiang Bi-yu has a son and gives him up so she can go on fighting the Japanese. By the end, Liang Ching’s apparently tenuous connection to Chiang Bi-yu evokes a stunning emotional response. “Good Men, Good Women” is not obscure for its own sake; it is a rigorous work of art whose mysteries are worth unraveling. GOOD MEN, GOOD WOMEN Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien; written (in Mandarin, Taiwanese, Japanese, Cantonese and Fujian, with English subtitles) by Chu Tien-wen, based on an original play by Chiang Bi-yu and Lan Bo-chow; director of photography, Chen Hwai-en; edited by Liao Ching-song; music by Mr. Chen and Chiang Hsiao-wen; produced by Katsuhiro Mizuno, Shozo Ichiyama, King Jieh-wen and Ben Hsieh. At Alice Tully Hall today at 2 P.M. as part of the 33d New York Film Festival. Running time: 108 minutes. This film is not rated. WITH: Annie Shizuka Inoh (Liang Ching/ Chiang Bi-yu), Lim Giong (Chung Hao-tung) and Jack Kao (Ah Wei)
Caryn James, NY Times, October 7, 1995

Good.Men.Good.Women.1995.DVDRip.x264-SMz.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1h 48mn
Size: 	1.59 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	684x460 ~> 817x460
Aspect ratio:  	16:9
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	1 850 Kbps
BPP: 	0.245
Audio
#1:  	Chinese AC-3 @ 256 Kbps

https://nitro.download/view/2CA575CDFD0BB7E/Good.Men.Good.Women.1995.DVDRip.x264-SMz.mkv

Language(s):Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Min Nan
Subtitles:English, Japanese, Chinese

The post Hsiao-hsien Hou – Hao nan hao nu AKA Good Men, Good Women (1995) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
1945-1947, Taiwan. A teenage couple were deeply in love despite objections from the girl’s family. Their tragic story is played out in travelling troupes, tea-houses and western-style cafes, with the backdrop of Japanese occupation and the 28 February Incident

Tian.ma.cha.fang.AKA.March.of.Happiness.1999.DVD.x264.DD.2.0-ScRiPt.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1 h 34 min
Size: 	1.52 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	692x360 ~> 692x389
Aspect ratio:  	16:9
Frame rate: 	23.976 fps
Bit rate: 	2 082 kb/s
BPP: 	0.349
Audio
#1:  	Chinese 2.0ch AC-3 @ 192 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/F0C700574D1B2EF/Tian.ma.cha.fang.AKA.March.of.Happiness.1999.DVD.x264.DD.2.0-ScRiPt(1).mkv

https://rapidgator.net/file/90a081e546eaafde4fe873bc53aa0fa9/Tian.ma.cha.fang.AKA.March.of.Happiness.1999.DVD.x264.DD.2.0-ScRiPt(1).mkv

Language(s):Chinese
Subtitles:English, French, Japanese, Chinese

The post Cheng-sheng Lin – Tian ma cha fang AKA March of Happiness (1999) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

1945-1947, Taiwan. A teenage couple were deeply in love despite objections from the girl’s family. Their tragic story is played out in travelling troupes, tea-houses and western-style cafes, with the backdrop of Japanese occupation and the 28 February Incident.1945-1947, Taiwan. A teenage couple were deeply in love despite objections from the girl’s family. Their tragic story is played out in travelling troupes, tea-houses and western-style cafes, with the backdrop of Japanese occupation and the 28 February Incident.

Tian.ma.cha.fang.AKA.March.of.Happiness.1999.DVD.x264.DD.2.0-ScRiPt.mkv

General
Container:	Matroska
Runtime:	1h 34mn
Size:	1.52 GiB
DXVA:	Compatible
Minimum settings:	Met
Video
Codec:	x264
Resolution:	692x360 ~> 692x389
Aspect ratio:	16:9
Frame rate:	23.976 fps
Bit rate:	2 082 kb/s
Audio
Chinese 2.0ch AC-3 @ 192 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/20186D6E58625F0/Tian.ma.cha.fang.AKA.March.of.Happiness.1999.DVD.x264.DD.2.0-ScRiPt.mkv

Language(s):Chinese
Subtitles:English, French, Chinese, Japanese

The post Cheng-sheng Lin – Tian ma cha fang AKA March of Happiness (1999) first appeared on Cinema of the World.