Good Men, Good Women
1995 · Movie · 108 min. · Taiwan
The final chapter of Hou Hsiao-Hsien's trilogy on Taiwanese history (that also includes A City of Sadness and The Puppetmaster), Good Men, Good Women provides a poignant, harrowing, and thematically complex portrait of postwar and contemporary Taiwan. By presenting the temporal confluence of three separate historically and personally relevant time periods, Hou not only reveals Liang's behavioral pattern of anonymous affairs, emotional isolation, and inner turmoil, but also parallels her self-destructive behavior with the national crisis of identity, hedonism, and cultural disconnection in contemporary Taiwan. In essence, Liang's betrayal of Ah Wei's memory is a modern day, personal manifestation of a national, historical event: the seemingly random persecution of Taiwanese people by their own government during the White Terror. Inevitably, like the nation, Liang is forced to reconcile with her own culpability and ignominious past in order to find closure and inner peace.
Direction Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Cast Annie Yi · Lim Giong · Jack Kao · Hsi Hsiang · Bo-Chow Lan · Lan Li-Chin · Vicky Wei · Steve Chen · Grace Chen · Kuei-Chung Cheng · Hou Te-Chien · Chiang Ching-Hsia · Kao Ming · Ku Chun · Ju Lin · Kuei Li · Pin Lo · Mei Fang · Tsai Chen-nan
Soundtrack Hsiao-Wen Jiang · Huai-en Chen
Screenplay Chu Tien-Wen · Bo-Chow Lan · Bi-Yu Chiang
Cinematography Huai-en Chen
Original title Hao nan hao nu (Good Men, Good Women)
6.9
164 votes (FilmAffinity)
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