The film begins with a relatively brief monologue, delivered in a calm and peaceful cadence, immediately followed by a flashback to the time when the family of the main character, Ah Hsiao-ku, has just moved from the mainland to Taiwan. The brief first-person narration sets the mood for the movie, one of reflection, and gracefully invites the audience to "step in" and experience once again the sentiments associated with growing-up.
Seen through Ah Hsiao-ku's eyes, his grandmother, parents, sisters, brothers, neighbors, classmates, and teachers all embody unique traits, and their various patterns of behavior serve to characterize the changes in Taiwan since 1949. These are always complex, frequently disturbing, and often sentimental. Changes are sometimes impersonally large, sometimes painfully personal.
His old grandmother is seen staggering forward in one scene rich in nostalgia, as she tries in her senility to find the way back to the mainland. Another scene indicates the despair and depression of the middle-aged generation through their purchase of rattan furniture that can be easily discarded when they return to the mainland—a group viewing Taiwan only as a temporary stopping place. And then there is the third and youngest generation that has developed an affinity with the land which is Taiwan; they exhibit their own sense of provincialism when mixing with Taiwanese teenagers by joking about their classroom discussions of "recovering the mainland."
These scenes clearly delineate the changes in political ideology from generation to generation, as the nostalgia and reminiscence about the mainland gradually fades away in time. Although the plot centers on the growing-up of Ah Hsiao-ku, it does not depart from this key political theme established at the film's beginning. Hou's treatment of the subject reveals a subtle sorrow and pity for each of these generations. Despite the somewhat pessimistic message, here is honest and humanistic reflection.
What makes an autobiographic movie become a model historical chronicle? Hou's success can be attributed to a thoroughly integrated, complete plot rich in abundant details. Although the movie is a lyric combination of narrative pargraphs and scenes, each is woven into the social background of the story in a manner that effectively piles up extraordinary dramatic effect. Even seemingly unimportant background activities or other trivialities link the flow of action to the larger events of the period. Particularly effective examples are the sounds of tank treads crunching down a public street, or the broadcast news that a Communist Chinese MiG fighter has been shot down as families sit together munching sugar cane.
"The Time to Live and the Time to Die" can accurately be called a picture of Taiwan's culture. Hou is at his aesthetic best when creating contrasting visual metaphors that capture the essence of local experience, experience that often has universal resonances. Especially successful are his juxtaposition of metaphors for life and death. Throughout the film he counterpoints the stages of Ah Hsiao-ku's maturation with the sickness, aging, and death of older generation family and friends.
In a striking scene, young Ah Hsiao-ku has sequestered himself in the bathroom to sneak a longer, and stimulating, look at a piece of pornographic writing, but his concentration is interrupted by his mother calling him to go buy a bottle of soy sauce. Beyond the contrast between turbid soy sauce and what Ah Hsiao-ku has at hand, the scene cuts to his mother, who is holding a mirror close to her face in order to better view a small cancerous growth on her tongue. Potential life and death again juxtaposed.
A similar scene occurs later in the film when Ah Hsiao-ku wakes in the middle of the night to discover the results of a wet dream; after he takes a quick shower and changes underwear, he sees his mother up late crying over a letter she is writing to her daughter. Her grief most certainly has been produced by thoughts of her now deceased husband, for Hou slowly, effectively, superimposes a nearby treasured photograph of him in happier times over her tear-streaked face.
Death is a recurrent theme in the film, occurring on three different occasions as Ah Hsiao-ku stretches toward manhood. His response to each is also an indication of his maturity, as he goes from crying child, to sobbing teenager, to sober youth.
Hou employs weather to set the emotional atmosphere of many scenes, and to signal events that are about to occur. A rainy day successfully forebodes the illness of Ah Hsiao-ku's mother; in another scene, gray clouds augment his depression and pain, for along with the sting of a scolding from his mother arises the realization that she is dying. More direct, yet still effective, is an electrical blackout just before his father dies. And when his mother also dies, wind whistling through the trees adds the powers of association to the scene by calling to mind famous lines from a Chinese poem, "The tree tends to be still, but the wind does not stop/When the children want to serve their parents, they are not there."
Beyond acclaim for his sophisticated use of metaphors, Hou has established a reputation for exuberant confidence in composition, use of broad spaces, and selection of scenery. These composite skills have ensured that the literary power of his scripts are matched with unusual visual effectiveness. His work has shown steady development in sophistication and quality, surpassing even his highly acclaimed earlier works in "Cheerful Wind" and "Green, Green Grass of Home" (See FCR, January 1983), and his foray into experimentalism in "The Boys from Fengkuei" (See FCR, April 1985).
Imitation is the highest form of praise, and "The Time to Live and the Time to Die" prompted other Taiwan directors to adapt Hou's approach to their own recent works. This has included attempts to reach the same levels of power found in various famous scenes, such as a street fight among city youth or impromptu flashbacks to drive home a metaphorical point. The autobiographical form itself has offered a challenge that several directors have tried to meet. But thus far, their attempts to capture the intricacies of personal maturation while simultaneously explicating the social and historical context have not matched Hou Hsiao-hsien's own nostalgic reflection on his youth, a work that far transcends simple romanticism.—(Chiao Hsiung-ping is a well-known film critic in Taiwan. She received her M.A. in film from the University of Texas.)
The films of Hou Hsiao-hsien represent the new concerns and sensibilities of Taiwan's younger generation of filmmakers. He is currently the most critically acclaimed local director.
Coincidentally, Hou was born in Mei Hsien on April 1947, the same county in Kwangtung Province that Edward Yang's parents came from, and moved with his family to Taiwan the following year. Due to extensive exposure to movies during military service, he developed a passion for cinema. Soon after being discharged, he entered Taipei's National College of Arts to study film.
His career began in 1973 as a lowly script boy, but in the following eight years he accumulated enough credits as an assistant director and screenwriter to make his directorial debut in 1980. Two years later, his romance drama "Green, Green Grass of Home" (see FCR, January 1983) received a Golden Horse Awards nomination.
The controversial film "The Sandwich Man" (see FCR, October 1983) further established his reputation for creative power, and helped shape a whole new consciousness about cinema on the island. His next film, "The Boys from Fengkuei" (see FCR, April 1985) was not only embraced by local critics, but received a warm reception in international festivals in Berlin, London, Nante, Hawaii, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Rotterdam, and Sazo. His 1985 "A Summer at Grandpa's" was awarded Best Picture that year at the Nante Film Festival.
Hou's 1985 autobiographical work "The Time to Live and the Time to Die" won the International Critics Award at the Berlin Film Festival as well as a Special Jury Prize at the 1986 Hawaii International Film Festival, and was invited for showing at a long list of prestigious film festivals. His next film "Dust In the Wind" (1986) was another success, winning awards for best cinematography and best music at the 1987 Nante Film Festival.
Filmography:
1980: Cute Girl
1981: Cheerful Wind
1982: Green, Green Grass of Home
1983: The Sandwich Man
The Boys from Fengkuei
1984: A Summer at Grandpa's
1985: The Time to Live and the Time to Die
1986: Dust in the Wind
1987: Daughter of the Nile