A City of Sadness (1989)
A City of Sadness (1989)
Plot.
Where to Watch.
Cast & Crew.
Tony Leung Chiu-wai
Wen-Ching
Hsin Shu-Fen
Wu Kuan Mei / Hinome
Chan Chung-Yung
Wen-Heung
Jack Kao
Wen Leung
Tai Bo
Ah Jia
Li Tian-Lu
Ah Lu
Grace Chen Shu-Fang
Meidai
Wu Nien-jen
Mr. Wu / Writer
Tsai Chen-Nan
Singer
King Shih-Chieh
Mr. Huang
Su-Yun Ko
Sister-in-law
Wou Yi Fang
Wu Kuan Rong / Hinoiei
Chi-Ying Kao
Shopkeeper
Ho Ai-Yun
Concubine
Huang Chien-ru
Ah Xue
Naoki Tachikawa
Composer
Ju Lin
Jin Quan
Lih-Ching Lin
Sister-in-law
Ching Lu
Wu's Father
Liao Ching-Sung
Editor
Ikuyo Nakamura
Shizuko Ogawa
Mei Fang
Wu's Mother
Zhang Dachun
Reporter He
Hou Hsiao-hsien
Director
Media.
Details.
Release DateOctober 21, 1989
Original Name悲情城市
StatusReleased
Running Time2h 38m
Content RatingNR
Genres
Last updated:
Wiki.
A City of Sadness (Chinese: 悲情城市; pinyin: Bēiqíng chéngshì) is a 1989 Taiwanese historical drama directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien. It tells the story of a family embroiled in the "White Terror" that was wrought on the Taiwanese people by the Kuomintang government (KMT) after their arrival from mainland China in the late 1940s, during which thousands of Taiwanese and recent emigres from the Mainland were rounded up, shot, and/or sent to prison. The film was the first to deal openly with the KMT's authoritarian misdeeds after its 1945 takeover of Taiwan, which had been relinquished following Japan's defeat in World War II, and the first to depict the February 28 Incident of 1947, in which thousands of people were massacred by the KMT.
A City of Sadness was the first (of three) Taiwanese films to win the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival, and is often considered Hou's masterpiece. The film was selected as the Taiwanese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 62nd Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.
This film is regarded as the second installment in the Wu Nien-jen trilogy as well as the first installment in a loose trilogy of Hsiao-Hsien's films that deal with Taiwanese history, which also includes The Puppetmaster (1993) and Good Men, Good Women (1995). These films are collectively called the "Taiwan Trilogy" by academics and critics.