Millennium Mambo
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Film description
In 2011, the protagonist, Vicky, is reminiscing about her life ten years before – the toxic relationships with the possessive Hao-hao, who was the reason she left school, and with Jack, involved in shady underworld dealings, whom she followed to Japan. Through the impressive, fluorescent images, the director portrays the lives of young people in Taipei who spend their time partying in popular clubs, not thinking about their future. Vicky is drifting among them, following one man after another, trying to find her place in life.
"Millennium Mambo" is almost the contemporary version of Hou Hsiao-hsien's previous film, "Flowers of Shanghai" – the "flower houses" from the 19th century are replaced by modern hostess bars in Taipei. The tea and opium pipes of old give way to cigarettes and alcohol, but the relationships between men and women remain mostly unchanged. The film is a testimony to the director's fascination with youth and the gangster underworld. Hou breaks away from the distanced poetics of his earlier works set in the past. In the contemporary "Millennium Mambo," he draws the audiences in, intoxicating them with the sensual atmosphere of night clubs and the beautiful people filling them.
Hou Hsiao-hsien
Born in 1947 in China, raised on Taiwan, where he graduated from National Arts Academy. Received many awards for best director at the most important film festivals (Cannes, Venice, Taipei). One of the key members of the Taiwanese New Wave.
1980 Jiu shi liu liu de ta / Cute Girls
1983 The Sandwich Man / Erzi de Dawan’ou
1983 Chłopcy z Fengkuei / Feng gui lai de ren / The Boys From Fengkuei
1985 Czas życia, czas śmierci / Tong nian wang shi / The Time to Live and the Time to Die
1989 Miasto smutku / Bei qing cheng shi / A City of Sadness
2001 Millennium Mambo / Qian xi man po / Millennium Mambo
2007 Podróż czerwonego balonika / Le Voyage du Ballon Rouge / The Flight of the Red Balloon
2015 Zabójczyni / Nie yinniang / The Assassin
