BFI: A CIty Of Sadness

A City Of Sadness (2002) by Berenice Reynaud is another fascinating book from BFI focusing on a single film. This time the 1989 Golden Lion winner at Venice in 1989 and Taiwanese historical epic from director Hou Hsiao-hsien is the subject. Reynaud organizes the book into five chapter: 1) Chinese History Is Made At Night, 2) A Family in the Wind of History, 3) A Polyphony of Voices, 4) Lost Spaces, and 5) An Aesthetic of the Fleeting Moment. Reynaud looks at the historical source material of the great shift from Japanese colony to refuge for Chiang Kai-shek after his defeat at the hands of Mao Zedong. She also discuses this film in the context of the other films he had mad up to 2002. I found the chapter "Lost Spaces" especially interesting since she talks about the influence of Ozu on Hou (he hadn't seen an Ozu films until the early 80s, but felt a strong connection with his work). Reynaud compares what she calls visual motif shots with what is known as Ozu's "pillow shots"--the most famous of which was the flower vase in Late Spring.  The book is a well researched analysis of one of the great director's masterpieces.