Hou Hsiao-hsien 5 - The Boys from Fengkuei aka All The Youthful Days (1983)

https://notesonfilm1.com/2021/05/09/thinking-aloud-about-film-hou-hsiao-hsieng-5-the-boys-from-fengkuei-aka-all-the-youthful-days-1983/ Hou has described this as the favourite amongst his films. Richard and José discuss why this might be so: the compositions; the long takes that allow for action vertically, horizontally, and on different planes of the image. The juxtaposition between the rowdy teenage delinquency we see with the classical musical. The easy ellipsis into memory. The evident influence of Italian neo-realism, particularly Visconti's Rocco and His Brothers, which is explicitly referenced and Fellini's I Vitelloni, which has a similar set-up. We discuss the falling into place of a particular style that would come to be associated with the director and why we think the film ends up being so beautiful and moving.