THE BOYS FROM FENG KUEI
Taiwan, 1983
Original title: Feng gui lai de ren
Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien. Screenplay: Chu T’ien-wen. Cinematographer: Chen Kun-hao. Montaggio: Liao Ching-sung. Art director: Tsai Cheng-pin. Musiche: Li Tsung-sheng. Cast and characters: Doze Niu (Cheng-tse), To Tsung-hua, Lin Hsiu-ling, Chang Shih, Yang Li-yin, Chang Shun-fang. Production: Evergreen Film Company. Length: 99’.
Format: DCP. Source: Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique, under licence from World Cinema Foundation.
Original version. Subtitles: English
Restoration by Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique in conjunction with Hou Hsiao-hsien and The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project.
Nostalgic story of autobiographical inspiration, tells of four young people who move from their country of origin to the city to look for work, reflecting on the “identity lacerations produced by the historical-political situation of the island and its rural past” (Marco Dalla Gassa).
“What immediately became clear to me is that Hou was an outsider, he wasn’t part of the gang, he wasn’t someone who was talked about, none of that. There was simply the strength of a film, ‘The Boys of Feng Kuei’, which emerged and imposed itself for very good reasons. In cinema, such reasons are always of a metaphysical nature. Hou’s style – at the same time intuitive, powerful and contemplative, distant from any attempt at seduction and capable of using brute force to aim solely and exclusively at the essential – was extremely beneficial for Chinese cinema. Starting from scratch, Hou was able to revolutionise their understanding and vision of the world, and by overcoming the impasses of imported classicism and modernism, he defined the possibility of a new and original point of view on the contemporary world. ” (Olivier Assayas)
Tuesday 12 April 2022, h. 9:00 pm
