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Good Men, Good Women

Original title: Hao nan hao nu
  • 19951995
  • 1h 48m
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
1.2K
YOUR RATING
Good Men, Good Women (1995)
  • Drama
  • Romance
Intended 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 w... Read allIntended 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 persecut... Read allIntended 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 diar... Read all
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
1.2K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Hsiao-Hsien Hou
  • Writers
    • Bi-Yu Chiang(novel)
    • Bo-Chow Lan(novel)
    • T'ien-wen Chu(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Annie Shizuka Inoh
    • Giong Lim
    • Jack Kao
Top credits
  • Director
    • Hsiao-Hsien Hou
  • Writers
    • Bi-Yu Chiang(novel)
    • Bo-Chow Lan(novel)
    • T'ien-wen Chu(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Annie Shizuka Inoh
    • Giong Lim
    • Jack Kao
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 11User reviews
    • 12Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 11 wins & 5 nominations

    Photos

    Good Men, Good Women (1995)
    Good Men, Good Women (1995)
    Good Men, Good Women (1995)
    Good Men, Good Women (1995)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Annie Shizuka Inoh
    Annie Shizuka Inoh
    • Liang Ching…
    Giong Lim
    Giong Lim
    • Chung Hao-Tung
    Jack Kao
    Jack Kao
    • Ah Wei
    Ah-Cheng
    Chia-Hui Bao
    Cheng-Liang Chen
    Chiao-e Chen
    Duan Chen
    Fei-Wen Chen
    Hsin-Yi Chen
    Hsin-Yi Chen
    Ming-Chung Chen
    Shu-Fang Chen
    Shu-Fang Chen
    Yi-Shan Chen
    Kuei-Chung Cheng
    Ching-Hsia Chiang
    Hua-mei Chiu
    Yu-bin Chiu
    Te-Chien Hou
    • Director
      • Hsiao-Hsien Hou
    • Writers
      • Bi-Yu Chiang(novel)
      • Bo-Chow Lan(novel)
      • T'ien-wen Chu(screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Connections
      Features Late Spring (1949)

    User reviews11

    Review
    Top review
    nope
    Liang Ching, an actress in contemporary Taiwan with a weakness for gangsters, prepares to star in a biopic of Chiang Bi-Ya, a real- life survivor of the White Terror- the suppression and execution of thousands of communists and suspected communists by the island's Nationalist government after the revolutionary victory on the mainland.

    It takes the viewer some time to realize that during the scenes depicting Bi-Ya's life, we are not, in fact, watching a film- within-a- film, but rather Ching's fantasies of Bi-Ya as she prepares for the role. Ching imagines Bi-Ya's life and struggle, a young idealist who joins the initially Nationalist-led resistance to the Japanese only to later be attacked by those same nationalists, in ways that both reflect and contrast with her own experiences. Consciously or not, Ching constructs a narrative of the founding of modern Taiwan as a US garrison state that forgrounds and to a degree excuses her own moral and emotional compromise to the modern Taiwanese mafia, who buy and sell human lives and loyalties.

    It is of course a truism that one cannot understand the present without understanding the past. But, Hou Hsiao-hsien's film suggests, neither can we look to the past without trying to understand it through the lens of the present and the personal. We never see any of the scenes from the "objective biopic" that Ching will star in, and the film suggests that such a work cannot be put on screen. It cannot exist. History and memory are inextricably intertwined. The personal and the universal cannot ultimately be distinguished.

    Good Men, Good Women displays the painterly beauty characteristic of Hou's films. The point of its narrative is much less allusive than in many of his movies, making it easier to digest, yet also less seductively enigmatic than Hou's very best work. Still, a very worthwhile piece of filmmaking.
    helpful•1
    0
    • treywillwest
    • Oct 8, 2016

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • December 9, 1995 (Japan)
    • Countries of origin
      • Japan
      • Taiwan
    • Languages
      • Mandarin
      • Cantonese
      • Japanese
      • Min Nan
    • Also known as
      • 好男好女
    • Filming locations
      • Guangdong, China
    • Production companies
      • 3H Films
      • Chang Su Productions
      • Fujian Film Studio
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 48 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Stereo
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.78 : 1

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