Greatest Films - The Best Movies in Cinematic History. Millennium Mambo review - movie review of the Hsiao-hsien Hou fi. Millennium Mambo Directed by Hsiao-hsien Hou As Millenium Mambo opens, following Vicky (Qi Shu) as she walks with an ecstatic grace on a bridge, almost floating in complete silence, you get instantly taken by the beauty of the scene, getting the feeling you're in for something unique. And it is. Veteran director Hsiao-hsien Hou, better known for melodramas such as The Puppetmaster and Flowers of Shanghai , has crafted a gorgeous and poetic film, which almost stands still, as the setting—mostly reduced to an apartment—and the story—a girl in a passive-abusive relationship—are almost inexistent.
Bathed in vibrant colors and supported by a chill-out electronic soundtrack, Millenium Mambo is, rather than a picture, an experience, which aims at brushing against the emotional state of its central character, to absorb her beauty and vacuity without interfering, like in some sort of naturalist painting. Fred Thom. Sight & Sound. Miradas de cine. Fellini - "8 ½" (1963) Nos hallamos ante la obra más prestigiosa de Federico Fellini. La que se encuentra en muchas listas como una de las diez mejores películas de la historia del cine.
En los comentarios que acompañan a la lista confeccionada por Sight and Sound se apunta que Ocho y medio (8 ½, 1963) es especialmente valorada por los realizadores de cine. No debería extrañarnos demasiado. Ocho y medio habla sobre la creación cinematográfica, más aún, sobre el creador, el artista. Para empezar, es interesante el matiz que puede suponer la consideración de que Fellini es sobretodo un artista. La curiosidad surgiría del considerar a Fellini un artista más que un autor. Una aproximación superficial a ambos conceptos podría emparentarlos automáticamente, sin embargo no podemos obviar las connotaciones políticas del término autor. El arranque de Ocho y Medio sintetiza a la perfección el discurso que se irá adornando (ya que se construye completo en el inicio) a lo largo de toda la película. Bright Lights Film Journal. Train to Somewhere Hou Hsiao-hsien Pays Sweet Homage to Ozu in Café Lumière Hou honors the master while remaining true to his own vision The 100th anniversary of the birth of Yasujiro Ozu on December 12, 1903 has seen the release of films by two major international art cinema directors — Abbas Kiarostami and Hou Hsiao-hsien — that are explicit homages to Ozu.
In the case of Kiarostami's Five (2003), the connection with Ozu is remote to say the least: a 74-minute film consisting of five static shots of the seashore, its willful denial of Kiarostami's own strengths as a narrative filmmaker makes it little more than an interesting experiment, more at home in the art gallery than the cinema. Café Lumière (2003) is another case entirely.
So in Café Lumière there are some parallels with Ozu's world, but there is also considerable distance, just as there is distance between the films of Ozu and those of Hou. Nonetheless, there are real differences between the two directors.