FilmStack Inspiration Challenge Day 63: Two Takes of Contemporary Taiwan

Perhaps every film lover knows the story of the Taiwanese New Wave—that transformative moment in the island’s cinematic history when a new generation of directors catapulted Taiwan onto the global stage. This includes Hou Hsiao-hsien’s City of Sadness, Edward Yang’s Yi Yi, and, later, the “second-wave” meditations of Tsai Ming-liang. (See Michelle’s essay on City of Sadness at the Paris Review here.)

The Taiwanese New Wave first emerged in the 1980s, when a new generation of filmmakers rejected the formulaic studio melodramas that had dominated Taiwanese screens. Instead, they chose to turn the camera to scenes of everyday life, filming the streets, apartments, and uneasy silences of a rapidly changing society. Their long takes and understated realism gave shape to a new moral and emotional vocabulary. Attuned to the weight of history and the d…