Tóngnián wangshì / Time to Live and Time to Die

“One should think of him [HHH] not as a savior-artist with prophetic abilities, but as representing a return to art as an extension of our minor but vital earthly considerations. Hou may not save you, but he sure wishes you well.” 

Travis Mackenzie Hoover

“I shoot long takes so the actors can really get into their roles. So it’s up to the actor to decide how much of themselves they put into it—how they bring to life the situation I’ve set up. But dictating exactly what they should do isn’t my style.”

Hou Hsiao-hsien

When Ah-ha’s family moves from mainland China to Taiwan, its older members struggle to adapt to their new surroundings, while the boy finds himself on the cusp of adulthood. The generation gap widens, threatening to alienate Ah-ha from his own family and its traditions. Set against the backdrop of a generational conflict, this melancholic film portrays the sense of cultural alienation and loss of identity experienced by Chinese immigrants. Hou Hsiao-hsien was born in mainland China in 1947 and brought to Taiwan as an infant when his family fled the civil war. These autobiographical motifs form the core of the story of a boy growing up in remote southern Taiwan in the 1950s and 1960s. Hsiao-hsien’s images captured by Mark Lee Ping-bing and composed of long takes, are teeming with life and the small peculiarities of everyday life. By casting non-actors and inserting his own commentary, he achieves the utmost authenticity and emotional truth in these situations without slipping into pathos. 

The film was preserved by the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute.