Hsiao Shu-shen Movies
- 2000
Former assistant director to renowned Taiwanese filmmakers Tsai Ming-liang and Sylvia Chang, Vivian Chang makes her directorial debut with this quiet, nuanced cinematic triptych about three stages of a woman's life. The first segment centers on a five-year-old lass (Huang Pin-hsuan) who sells tissues at a Taipei night market while her father begs for money by day and drinks, gambles, and beats her philandering mother by night. Meanwhile, the child imagines her parents either dead or as tango dancers. The second section focuses on an alienated teenager (Tammy Tseng) who copes with her own ennui by swiping the ID cards of strangers and assuming their identity for a while. She stumbles upon a partner in crime when she meets a motorcycle accident victim (Leon Dai) suffering from acute amnesia. The final segment deals with a 30-year-old woman (Shu Qi) who visits her dying mother while considering becoming a parent herself. This film was screened at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hsiao Shu-shen
- 1999
- NR
Two young people begin a tragic love affair against a backdrop of political turmoil in Lin Cheng-sheng's Xingfu Jinxingqu. In 1945, Taiwan is under Japanese occupation and Yu (Hsiao Shu-shen), a merchant's daughter who is a member of a theater troupe, falls in love with a musician named Jin (Lim Giong) who works with her group. However, Yu's father is not pleased, as he hopes she will some day wed Ren-chang (Yang Cai-hsia), the son of a prominent doctor. When Allied forces begin bombing Taiwan, the players are forced to disband, and Yu and Jin do not see each other for two years. When they do, a great deal has changed; the Kuomintang, under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek, have established a Chinese-directed government in Taiwan, and local dialects are forbidden while residents are forced to speak Mandarin. Despite the new hardships, Yu and Jin renew their love and pledge to marry on Feb. 28, 1949 -- a day now remembered in Taiwan for a bloody massacre in which the Kuomintang forces attacked helpless Taiwanese citizens. Xingfu Jinxingqu was Lin Cheng-sheng's fourth film to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival, and his first to be screened in official competition. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lim Giong, Hsiao Shu-shen, (more)
