A City of Sadness (1989)

Hou Hsiao-Hsien breached political taboos in his Golden Lion-winning tale of a Taiwanese family in the mid-1940s.

Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s loose trilogy of films on Taiwan’s modern history started with this dark family saga, set in the years after Japan’s colonial rule ended in 1945. All the sons in the Lin family have trouble, none more than Wenqing (Tony Leung), an idealistic deaf-mute. Taiwan audiences flocked to a movie which overturned political censorship taboos, and Venice awarded it the Golden Lion.

1989 Taiwan
Directed by
Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Produced by
Ch'iu Fu-sheng
Written by
Wu Nien-chen, Chu T'ien-Wen
Featuring
Li T'ien-lü, Ch'en Sung-yung, Gao Chieh

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for A City of Sadness

Critics

Dudley Andrew
USA
Paolo Bertolin
Italy
Hannes Brühwiler
Germany/Switzerland
Colin Burnett
USA
Michel Ciment
France
Jesse Cumming
Canada
John Hill
UK
Sam Ho
Hong Kong
Teresa Huang
Taiwan
Anke Leweke
Germany
Adrienne McKibbins
Australia
Markus Nornes
USA
James Quandt
Canada
Leo Robson
UK
Rainer Rother
Germany
Josh Slater-Williams
UK
Brad Stevens
UK
Gerwin Tamsma
Netherlands

Directors

Alex Barrett
UK
Chuko Esiri
Nigeria
Bong Joon-ho
Ruijun Li
China
Wang Xiaoshuai
China

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