Old Fox
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Muranów
Muranów
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Film description
Taipei, late 1980s. Liao Jie is an 11-year-old boy dreaming of a better future with his single father, who works tirelessly to save money for their shared goal of buying a house and opening a hairdressing salon. Everything shifts when Liao crosses paths with Boss Xie, a crafty landlord known to the locals as "Old Fox." As Liao is drawn into Xie's mysterious world, he begins to question his ideas about trust, loyalty, and ambition. What starts as a chance encounter soon pushes Liao toward adulthood, challenging him to navigate complex moral ground.
Director Hsiao Ya-chuan sets Old Fox against Taiwan’s rapid transformation in the late 80s and early 90s – a period marked by democratization, economic growth, and the emergence of a distinct Taiwanese identity. Through the relationship between Liao and Xie, the film explores the tension between tradition and progress, highlighting the complexities of growing up in a world where past and future often collide. With a delicate blend of humor and drama, Old Fox reflects on what it means to find wisdom in unlikely places.
text:
Marcin Krasnowolski
Hsiao Ya-chuan
Born in 1967, Hsiao Ya-chuan is a Taiwanese screenwriter and director. A graduate of the Fine Art Department at the National Institute of Arts, Hsiao began his career as an assistant director under renowned filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien on Flowers of Shanghai (1998). Hou went on to serve as executive producer on many of Hsiao’s works. His debut feature, Mirror Image (2000), was selected for the Director's Fortnight at Cannes in 2001 and won multiple awards, including Best Film at the Taipei Film Festival. His subsequent works include Taipei Exchanges (2010), Father to Son (2018), and Old Fox (2023), each of which has achieved critical acclaim both domestically and internationally.
2001 Mirror Image / Ming dai zhui zhu
2010 Taipei Exchanges / Di 36 ge gu shi
2011 10+10
2018 Z ojca na syna / Father to Son / Van Pao-te
2023 Szczwany Lis / Old Fox / Lao hu li
