NAN GUO ZAI JIAN, NAN GUO (Goodbye, South, Goodbye) 1996

Tuesday, June 14, 2016 at 20:00
NAN GUO ZAI JIAN, NAN GUO (Goodbye, South, Goodbye)
1996, Taiwan / Japan, R, 116 min, Crime / Drama, DVD
Director: Hsiao-Hsien Hou
Stars: Hsiang Hsi, Kuei-Ying Hsu, Annie Shizuka Inoh
After spending much of the decade making films about Taiwan's complex and troubled history, Hou Hsiao Hsien turns his attention to its money-obsessed present with this gangster drama. Tattooed mobster, Kao (Jack Kao), and his quick-tempered, aptly named protégé, Flathead (Lim Giong), along with their girlfriends, Ying (Hsu Kuei-ying) and Pretzel (Annie Shizuka Inoh), are desperately trying to make it big. Their master plan is open a disco in Shanghai, but that scheme seems less and less likely with each call they get from their cell phone. Corrupt mainland potentates want a king's ransom in kickbacks while Pretzel racked up a king's ransom of debt herself at the mahjong table, prompting her to make a half-hearted suicide attempt. To make ends meet, these would-be entrepreneurs make a stab at swindling the government over swine -- selling sows when they are supposed to be the more valuable studs. They wine and dine the farmers in rural backwater Chiayi only to get cut out of the deal and kidnapped by the corrupt police.

* Special thanks to the program supporter Khachatur Aloyan (USA)
* Programs are free of charge, but seating is on a first-come, first-seated basis.
* Films are screened in original language with English subtitles.