Tony Rayns discusses Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s A Time to Live, A Time to Die in a pre-recorded introduction as part of our New Taiwanese Cinema season.

Inspired by filmmaker Hsiao-hsien Hou’s own childhood, this drama centers on Ah-Ha-Gu (You Anshun), a boy who comes of age during a tumultuous time in his family’s history. When the Gu family made the move from China’s mainland to Taiwan, the elder family members struggled to adapt in their new environment while the adolescent Ah-Ha thrived. Indeed, as Ah-Ha grows to maturity, the generation gap grows fearsomely wide, threatening to alienate the young man from his family and their traditions.