Oct. 26 Response

Bordwell, “Hou, or Constraints.”

1. What are the basic parallels and contrasts between the City of Sadness scene described on p. 186-187 and the scene described on p. 229?
They both have similar if not the same framing of a group of people gathered around a table, but in the scene on page 229, the camera is closer, more personal, much like the scene. In the scene described on p.186, it is just a casual group of friends discussing, but the other scene is a little more intimate, and the framing follows reflects this.

2. In what ways does Hou take the idea of deliberate constraints even further in his subsequent films, especially Flowers of Shanghai?
In Flowers of Shanghai, Hou starts to restricts not only time, but space as well. Every scene takes place within the same locations inside the brothel, and the viewer must try to put together any plot points that take place outside of these specified locations by looking for clues and dialogue within each scene. Each shot except one is also one take, so Hou must (and does so successfully) pack all the important plot points, character developments and typical reveals/hides within this designated space.

Paul WILLEMEN, “The times of subjectivity and social reproduction”

1. Why does Willemen not love the films of Hou Hsiao-hsien because of their complexity?
He argues that just because a movie is complex in its structure, staging, etc. as Hou's films typically are, this does not mean that they are automatically good. He says that there is no connection between quality and complexity, so Hou's films should not automatically be considered good because of their convoluted nature.

2. Why does Willemen not love the films of Hou Hsiao-hsien because of their “Tawianness”?
He essentially says that to love a film based on where it is filmed because it "informs you of the country and the culture" is silly. He states that if he wanted to learn about Taiwan, Hou's films or any real Taiwanese cinema are no where near the best place to find information on the country.

3. Why does Willemen not love the films of Hou Hsiao-hsien because Hou is a world cinema auteur?
Because if one goes to see his films simply because he is said to be a great cinema auteur, one goes into the film with the assumption that it is great and does not watch the film and decides for themselves what they personally think of it. By being bombarded on his great and masterful work, one is compelled to happily jump on the bandwagon of Hou cinema lovers rather than truly watch and analyze his films and determine if they like it personally regardless of how it is liked universally.

4. Returning to the idea of complexity, what general question does Willemen believe that Hou’s films ask and try to answer?

Hou's films ask the question of how much weight does the occurrences of the past, of historical happenings of Taiwan have on this spatial/temporal/social plane which he is showing us in each of his films?

5. What is Willemen’s critique of critical approaches that emphasize “Chineseness” in Hou’s work?

He compares Hou's work to that of King Hu's, who he says exemplifies typical Chinese aesthetic practices much more than Hou does. He says that King Hu exudes a normative, Chinese aestheticism where Hou uses basic evocations of Chinese pictorialism in order to "allow for the emergence of the energy pressures at work in the depicted scene."