By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com
Hou's coming to dinner: the key point is how to observe
Xinhua has words with Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-hsien, whose intensely well-reviewed Three Times will be released soon as part of IFC’s “First Take” series. What kinds of movies do audiences want? he’s asked. “Simple, touching and powerful movies are always most welcome.” Hou appeared at a Wednesday seminar of the Hong Kong International Film Festival. “Movies are divided into two groups: good and bad. A good movie should be simple and touching, and in the meantime, it must be powerful. It’s most difficult to make a powerful movie because truth is usually beyond words and images… Personal style is not opposite to the market. What you shoot is life and the society. Your own experience also reflect and express others’ experience. Why you say ‘I can’t understand’ is just because of the habit of movie-watching is being changed.” “Hou has kept shooting films that require audience to think all these years. He believes that such films can inject fresh blood to the movie industry and finally make an impact on the mainstream. “Since these films are of low cost, they are courageous enough to experiment and produce something creative. Hollywood movies are always ready to pick up those fresh elements,” Hou said. Any worries about DV, which allows almost anyone to shoot and produce a movie? “The films they shoot are always based on others’ imagination. They are so alike to what they have watched in the theaters. They do not feel the life with their own hearts. They do not watch the society with their own eyes… It’s quite easy to grasp shooting techniques, but the key point is how to observe.”