New Taiwan Cinema in the 90s
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- DirectorHung-Wei YehStarsJing AiShih ChangYing ChangFive girls grow up in China during the first years of the twentieth century. When they become adults they have to learn that women are almost without rights. Other women close to them are suppressed in the most brutal way. When Mingtao is to marry a mentally deficient but rich man, she and her friends decide to escape and to search for the mythical "garden" where a woman's life is worth living.
- DirectorHung-Wei YehStarsSheng-Li ChoChung-Hua TouChuan-Chen YehOld man Wan enjoys boasting about his adventurous days as a gangster to anyone who would listen in the teahouse. His son Hue, a strong-willed boy, is in love with Chew Hung, the daugther of Wan's blood brother, Chuen. But things turn sour when Chuen promises her to the son of a powerful politician. To force the lovers to separate, Chuen gives a loan to Wan with a condition attached. The young people decided to elope to Taipei, but soon Chuen and his gang of hoodlum have tracked them down...
- DirectorEdward YangStarsChang ChenLisa YangKuo-Chu ChangBased on a true story, primarily on a conflict between two youth gangs, a 14-year-old boy's girlfriend conflicts with the head of one gang for an unclear reason, until finally the conflict comes to a violent climax.
- DirectorHsiao-Ming HsuStarsShih ChangSung-Young ChenJack KaoBeigang teens A-guo and A-douzi fight, loaf, and cause trouble all day. One day, they accidentally grab a bag with guns and drugs, and head for Taipei looking for Brother Jie, a friend in the underworld there.
- DirectorEdward YangStarsTai-song ChenZianqi ChenDavid WangFilmed performance of Yang's one-act two-character play which shifts back and forth from comedy to much darker tones as a married couple try to figure out what to do with the body of a man the wife has killed in their kitchen.
- DirectorAng LeeStarsSihung LungLai WangBozhao WangAll the while, Master Chu tries to find his place in the foreign American world.
- DirectorTsai Ming-liangStarsWang Yu-wenChen Chao-jungKang-sheng LeeWithin the urban gloom of Taipei, four youths face alienation, loneliness, and moments of existential crisis amidst a series of minor crimes.
- DirectorToon WangStarsJen Chang-binXianmei ChenPin-Yuan HuangSet in 1920s Taiwan under Japanese rule, two men join the Chiu-Fen gold rush hoping for riches, while a widow struggles and a prostitute yearns for freedom. A mine collapse traps miners as the widow leaves town.
- DirectorStan LaiStarsBrigitte LinShih-Chieh KingPao-Ming KuTwo drama companies happened to share one auditorium for rehearsal. Friction was inevitable. One of them played 'Peach Blossom', a comedy in medieval costume. Another played 'Secret Love', a sad story with contemporary setting. Though unreconciled in all aspects, they find themselves telling the same story: the story of Chinese people forced to leave home.
- DirectorKuo-Fu ChenStarsGiong LimTarcy SuJack KaoA group of young Taipei residents is drawn into the city's underworld through the growing obsession of one, the boyish Ah-feng, for the sexy Cantonese mistress of a gang boss.
- DirectorAng LeeStarsWinston ChaoMay ChinAh-Lei GuaTo satisfy his nagging parents, a gay landlord and a female tenant agree to a marriage of convenience, but his parents arrive to visit and things get out of hand.
- DirectorHsiao-Hsien HouStarsTien-Lu LiGiong LimKuei-Chung ChengPuppeteer Li Tian-lu tells his life story, and through it, the story of Taiwan in the first half of the 20th century.
- DirectorNien-Jen WuStarsAkio ChenShu-Fang ChenJun FuAutobiographical story about the life of a poor family in the Taiwanese countryside during the 1940s and 1950s as the Japanese rule of the island ends and nationalist forces of Kwomintang arrive when the Communists take the mainland.
- DirectorEdward YangStarsLi-Mei ChenShiang-chyi ChenYi-Wen ChenAfter firing a colleague, the head of a PR company begins to question her lifestyle and values.
- DirectorAng LeeStarsSihung LungKuei-Mei YangWang Yu-wenA senior chef lives with his three grown daughters; the middle one finds her future plans affected by unexpected events and the life changes of the other household members.
- DirectorTsai Ming-liangStarsChen Chao-jungKang-sheng LeeKuei-Mei YangThree lonely young denizens of Taipei unknowingly share an apartment used for sexual trysts.
- DirectorTso-chi ChangStarsChu-hui ChangJack KaoMing Lin
- DirectorStan LaiStarsLi-Wei ChangWen-Min ChenLeon DaiAhda sells language tapes by day and attends cram school at night, but his real passion is to achieve the secret art of "vaulting" - defying gravity to leap impossible distances. Fired by the exploits of the legendary Red Lotus Society, Ahda is on a romantic quest for a master.
- DirectorToon WangStarsShu TaoChun ShihChuan WangIn 1949, the Communists take over mainland. The refugees and the military arrive in the Keelung Harbor in Taiwan. While the father holds secret meetings with other generals in attempt to recover the lost land, the kids still play games with their grandma who still enjoys the harmony and peace in hardship. Gradually, it seems that there was no hope to fight back the fatherland. The general turned father has to run a small business to support the family. He encounters a series of struggles. And finally his kids grow up.
- DirectorJen WanStarsChiu-Yen ChenI-Chen KoYang LinAt an old age, a former political prisoner is determined to find out where his fellow sufferers have laid since their secret execution, while Taiwan embarks on a tumultuous path of democratization.
- DirectorHsiao-Ming HsuStarsVicky WeiJieh-Wen KingChing-Ju ChangIn Taiwan, a young woman, Lin-Lang, is released from prison after serving ten years for terrorist activity. She had turned to bomb making in grief after her mentor and lover, An Rong, who was also her university professor, was arrested for political activity and, she presumed, executed. In prison, she learns Rong is alive, and she maintains her spirits and sanity for the years in her cell by holding imaginary conversations with him. When she is released, she discovers he is married, has a child, and lives conventionally. She finds him; he's not happy to see her. How she reacts to losing the center of her life becomes the subject of the film.
- DirectorHsiao-Hsien HouStarsAnnie Shizuka InohGiong LimJack KaoIntended as the concluding film in the trilogy on the modern history of Taiwan began with Beiqing Chengshi (1989), this film reveals the story through three levels: a film within a film as well as the past and present as linked by a young woman, Liang Ching. She is being persecuted by an anonymous man who calls her repeatedly but does not speak. He has stolen her diary and faxes her pages daily. Liang is also rehearsing for a new film that is due to go into production soon. The film, entitled Haonan Haonu, is about a couple Chiang Bi-yu and Chung Hao-tung who returns to China to participate in the anti-Japanese movement in China in the 1940s and are arrested as communists when they go back to Taiwan.
- DirectorYu-Hsun ChenStarsAkio ChenYi-fan ChenHsiao-fan FanYoung boy, Ah-Jiang, a school failure and day dreamer witnesses the kidnapping of a child. After being taken hostage by a corrupt family, he begins an unusual adventure away from home.
- DirectorSylvia ChangStarsRene LiuMarj DusayChung-Hua TouSiao Yu needs a Green Card. Mario Moretti needs his debts paid. Getting married could solve their problems, or multiply them.
- DirectorKuo-Fu ChenStarsPen-yu ChangHua-Chien HsuRene LiuA teenager called Li Li, always got the same dream. In the dream, she falls in love with a scholar. She finds satisfaction in the dream whereas she feels disillusion in the reality and led her became insane. Accidentally, she saw the scholar in an advertisement.
- DirectorHsiao-Hsien HouStarsJieh-Wen KingKuei-Ying HsuAnnie Shizuka InohA glimpse at the lives of two petty criminals in Taipei.
- DirectorCheng-sheng LinStarsKang-sheng LeeVicky WeiGrace ChenHistorical drama about a man coping with the tragic death of his young wife. As he makes new connections, he works to be a better man and father.
- DirectorNien-Jen WuStarsCheng-sheng LinYung-Teh HsuBin-Hui LeeIn a sleepy part of rural Taiwan in the late 1960s, the life of a village is shattered when Uncle Sam arrives in tanks. The Yanks are there to take part in joint military exercises with Taiwanese troops, but the villagers take their compensation by direct methods - they steal anything that can be moved. One of the film's great strengths is the way that writer Wu Nien-jen, in only his second feature as director, shades the comic tone. The film's main character, Brain (Lin Cheng-sheng, himself a director), condemns the rampant theft but turns against the Americans when they take him for a beggar. He steals two huge boxes, not knowing what they contain.
- DirectorTso-chi ChangStarsMing ChenHsiu-Min ChiuYing LuThe story concerns a male youth named Ah Chung who graduates from high school and descends into a maelstrom of personal, familial, and communal conflicts.
- DirectorSylvia ChangStarsSihung LungAh-Lei GuaWinston ChaoIt all starts on Mr. Chen's 60th birthday. To a semi-retired dentist, still physically fit and full of charisma, reaching 60 is not the best of news. His wife constantly says he is now an old man; his daughter's boyfriend keeps asking him to insure himself; his son and daughter quarrel over the mortgage. Mr. Chen just wants to get away. Before long, his dream comes true when he falls in love with a kindergarten director. But even before a week passes, his wife finds out and claims to want a divorce. He accepts, perplexing the whole family.
- DirectorEdward YangStarsTsung Sheng TangChang ChenLawrence KoWhen a well known businessman goes missing, owing $100m to Taipei's underworld, two hoods decide to follow his son, the leader of a youth gang. A small group of trendy foreigners gets caught up in the action.
- DirectorCheng-sheng LinStarsShiang-chyi ChenKang-sheng LeePen-yu ChangIt's a story about love, desire - Taboo love between a sister and a brother.
- DirectorTsai Ming-liangStarsMiao TienKang-sheng LeeYi-ching LuA young man develops severe neck pain after swimming in a polluted river; his dysfunctional parents are unable to provide any relief for him or themselves.
- DirectorCheng-sheng LinStarsRene LiuJing TsengChin-Hsin TsaiA rather dejected Mei-li Chen lives with her extended family in the suburbs. She drops out of college when the boy she has a crush on finds a girlfriend. Mei-li eventually ends up selling tickets in a movie theatre. A great camaraderie then builds up between the two cashiers in the small ticket booth.
- DirectorYu-Hsun ChenStarsKo-Chung ChangChing-Hsin ChenHsiu-Min ChiuAh-Sheng is a baker. He loves singing a lot although he sings poorly. For a long time, he has been thinking about participating in a singing contest program on the cable TV. One day, he meets his dream girl who went to the same elementary school. Her name is Li-Hua. She does not remember Ah-Sheng any more. His inferiority complex makes him ashamed to tell her that he used to be her best friend in the elementary school. The only thing he can do is to secretly watch her buying lemon pies in the bakery. Seeing Li-Hua again lights up his love toward her. Also, it reminds him of the sweet memories of their past. When they were little, they both believed in the existence of the "Invisible Man." Therefore, they always investigated the whereabout of the "Invisible Man" together. The night before the graduation, Li-Hua disappeared. From then on, Ah-Sheng began to assume that Li-Hua has become invisible and kept him company ever since. Finding Li-Hua again is a great opportunity that Ah-Sheng wants to hold on to. Thus, he wants to express his feeling toward Li-Hua by joining the singing contest on the cable TV.
- DirectorKuo-Fu ChenStarsRene LiuWu BaiChen Chao-jungAn attractive and successful doctor places a personal ad in a newspaper to try to meet (and eventually marry) Mr. Right. A succession of blind dates ensues, featuring men who are lonely, desperate, dangerous and perverted.
- DirectorTsai Ming-liangStarsKuei-Mei YangKang-sheng LeeMiao TienWhile never-ending rain and a strange disease spread by cockroaches ravage Taiwan, a plumber makes a hole between two apartments and the inhabitants of each form a unique connection, enacted in musical numbers.
- DirectorHsiao-Hsien HouStarsTony Leung Chiu-waiMichiko HadaMichelle ReisIn the "flower houses" (upscale brothels) of Shanghai, various interweaving stories of love, loyalty, and deceit play out subtly.
- DirectorCheng-sheng LinStarsGiong LimShu-shen HsiaoLeon Dai1945-1947, Taiwan. A teenage couple were deeply in love despite objections from the girl's family. Their tragic story is played out in travelling troupes, tea-houses and western-style cafes, with the backdrop of Japanese occupation and the 28 February Incident.
- DirectorTso-chi ChangStarsKang-i LeeMing-shiou TsaiBau-huei ShieKang-Yi is a teenage girl who lives in an apartment building in the port city of Keelung. Most of her family, and the people in the apartment, are blind, and she helps them out. Ah Ping, who was brought up on the mainland and only speaks Mandarin, comes back to Taiwan after dropping out of military academy. He stays in the same building, and starts to date Kang-Yi. This annoys one of her classmates, who claims she is his girl, and he gets his gang of thugs to bully Ah Ping.