Ranked: the 10 best films of Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien, who is retiring because of Alzheimer’s, from Millennium Mambo to The Assassin
- Through his 18 films, Hou Hsiao-hsien, a leader of the Taiwan New Wave, honed his style of filmmaking: naturalistic, with long takes and attention to detail
- From aurally audacious romance Millennium Mambo to Venice Golden Lion winner A City of Sadness and his last, The Assassin, we rank the director’s 10 best films
Last week, news broke that celebrated Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien has been forced to retire from filmmaking because of his ongoing battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
This means the director’s long-gestating project Shulan River, which looked set to reunite Hou with Shu Qi and Chang Chen, lead actors in several of his films, will no longer move forward.
Born in Guangdong, southern China, in 1947, Hou emigrated to Taiwan with his family the following year. Widely regarded as the greatest living Taiwanese filmmaker, he was a prominent figure in the Taiwan New Wave of the 1980s and his films have been lauded at many of the world’s most prestigious film festivals.
Hou directed 18 feature films during his career, and to mark his retirement we take a moment to rank his 10 finest works.
10. The Green, Green Grass of Home (1982)
Hou’s third and final collaboration with Kenny Bee casts the Hong Kong singer as a university-educated teacher who transfers from Taipei to a small village in southern Taiwan.
