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Early Films by Hou Hsiao-hsien

The Green, Green Grass of Home

1h 31m

Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien • 1982 • Taiwan
Starring Kenny Bee, Meifeng Chen, Jing-kuo Yen

Hou Hsiao-hsien’s third feature finds him on the cusp of developing his mature style, sharpening his powers of human observation in a charming look at rural-urban culture clash.Kenny Bee plays a schoolteacher from Taipei who arrives in a small town to take a new job as instructor to a class of mischievous students. Hou captures the slice-of-life blend of comedy, romance, and everyday drama that ensues with gentle humanism and glimpses of the evocative long takes that would soon become his signature.

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  • The Boys from Fengkuei
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    The Boys from Fengkuei

    The Boys from Fengkuei

    Directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien • 1983 • Taiwan
    Starring Doze Niu Cheng-Tse, Zhang Shi, Lin Hsiu-Ling

    THE BOYS FROM FENGKUEI was Hou Hsiao-hsien’s fourth film as director, but in many ways it can be viewed as his first mature work—the one in which he moved away from commercial comedies toward a more...

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