Hsiao Ya-Chuan Movies
Millennium Mambo director Hou Hsiao-hsien explores the ever-changing cycle of love in this collection of three romantic stories set in 1911, 1966, and 2005 and utilizing the same actors in all three tales. In "A Time for Love," a fresh-faced soldier boy named Chen (Chang Chen) searches for a pool hall hostess named May (Shu Qi) who captured his heart before disappearing into the crowd. The second tale, set against the backdrop of the Japanese occupation of Taiwan and entitled "A Time for Freedom," finds an elegant courtesan tending to a young intellectual in a lavish brothel. The trilogy draws to a close with a segment entitled "A Time for Youth" in which a present-day Taipei singer who is also an epileptic neglects her female lover to seek the romantic attentions of a talented photographer. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shu Qi, Chang Chen, (more)
- 2001
A man finds his life taking a few unexpected turns after taking a spill off a motorbike in this engaging comedy-drama. After a serious motorcycle accident, Tung-ching (Lee Jiunn-jye) receives a scar on his hand that effectively erases his lifeline. Taking this as a sign from the fates, Tung-ching believes the accident indicates the path his life once followed no longer applies, and he soon discovers his life is being swayed by unusual circumstances. When his father falls ill, Tung-ching is put in charge of the family business, a pawn shop, and he finds himself coming in contact with a stream of new and unusual people -- something that impresses Tung-ching, but not his jaded girlfriend Eiko (Fan Hsiao-fan). Hoping to bring Eiko into the business, Tung-ching decides to draw on her interest in palm reading by using handprints as identification for their customers, but as she spends more time studying other people's hands (as well as looking at prints of Tung-ching's palm from before the accident), the more she drifts apart from him. Tung-ching, meanwhile, begins to fall for one of his customers, a pretty but enigmatic woman (Era Wang) known only as I Know. Ming Dai Ahui Zhu was the first feature film from writer and director Hsiao Ya-chuan, who got his start as an assistant to renowned filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lee Jiunn-jye
