I didn’t want to believe the rumors going around that Chinese master Hou Hsiao-Hsien was gravely ill. Some even thought we would never see another Hou film due to his being diagnosed with early on-set dementia.
We hadn’t heard from the Chinese-born Taiwanese filmmaker since his 2015 wuxia epic “The Assassin.” Then, very early this year, there was news that his long-developing drama “Shulan River” was finally beginning location scouting (via IONCINEMA). It could very well be the master’s final film.
Hou’s best-known films include “A City of Sadness,” “Flowers of Shanghai,” and “The Puppetmaster.” His style is as arthouse as it gets, but there’s a real beauty to his images that just sucks you right into its frames.
We wish him well.