Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Departure from Language in His Postmillennial Films

What insights can be gleaned concerning the aesthetic underpinnings of Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien beyond the long take, long shot, static camerawork, and his affinity for neorealism? This article explores Hou’s departure from language since the turn of the new millennium and its interplay with the modern Chinese lyrical tradition contextualized within the contemporary milieu. The article begins by dissecting Hou’s methods of diminishing language and rendering it unfamiliar. It then addresses the collaboration between Hou and Zhu Tianwen, a Taiwanese writer who serves as a scriptwriter, shedding light on Hou’s postmillennial disengagement from history and preconceived narratives. The accompanying aesthetic strategy of reducing and estranging language, in turn, facilitates a more genuine manifestation of the individual personalities of the actors, empowering them to create fiction. Hou’s method also influenced Zhu’s evolution as a novelist, which is visible in her latest literary work. By examining the lesser-known perspective of Shen Congwen concerning cinema, the article illustrates the convergence between Hou and Shen in their shared aspiration to cultivate an atmospheric cinematic ambience. The article posits that Hou’s postmillennial cinema outgrows the detached observational style of his, Zhu’s, and Shen’s earlier works. Instead, Hou’s departure from language as an information medium transforms the narrative into a transgressive lyrical experience, traversing subjective and objective realms and blurring the lines between fiction and reality.