1. The first obvious parallel is stated in the text that Hou likes to stage key plot points during meals. Granted we wouldn't realize the weight of the first scene given that the information takes a while to come back and bite the smart guy in the butt. The two scenes also take place in the same setting with the staging of the characters directing the viewers eye and mind to the key players in the scene. The difference lies in the first scene when the window is opened and we are allowed a view into the outside world versus the second scene whose composition is tight and cramped to highlight weng-leungs capitulation to the gangsters.

2. In Flowers Of Shanghai Hous style was influenced by the novel from which the film was adapted. Since the novel was written as journal entries from a prostitute he uses long one-takes that are separated by fade in/outs. This speaks to the idea of the story of events being told by a single persons point of view in real time.

1. The reviews are trying to formulate a way to instruct people on how to watch them. It's natural human curiosity to want to explain things and that's exactly what the reviews are attempting to do. Since nothing like Hou had ever existed before they want to explain why it works so that inevitably someone can take the idea and modify and create an entirely new style.

2. Vitali states that the reviews of Hou's films tend to focus on characters and are usually treated as political allegories or representational of some historical even though the reviewers never give the historical context any explanation. The reviews also rely on the idea that Hou embodies stylistic continuity throughout his career works.

3. I get that Vitali is saying that film critics, especially in Britain and France, try to use Taiwanese films as a jumping off point to discuss whats happening in their current film industrys. What I don't understand is how that quote mentions anything about France or it's film industry.

5. The instruction manuals are the same because both film industry's use specific stylistic choices and ideas to convey whatever meaning or story they are telling. If one has no understanding of this language they will be lost. The reason these manuals exist is for people who grew up with one type of film language to not only understand a different language but also understand what about their learned film language makes it work.

1. Willehem doesn't like Hous films because of their complexity because he believes that complex films can still be bad films. If you had a pocket knife that had 30,000 uses but you can't figure the damn thing out then it's not a very good pocket knife.

Oct 19th

1. The February 28th incident was the day that martial law was declared over the newly freed Taiwanese people. The government did so when an anti-nationalist sentiment developed over the selection of an alternate national language as well as corrupt officials. The government began shooting and killing anyone who seemed capable of leading a rebellion.

2. The controversy around the treatment of the February 28th incident comes from the fact that the film actually discusses it. During this time no one would be mentioning it but this film caused a discussion to start about the incident.

3. That quote was a good description of what I experience in most movies but in A Time to Live and A Time To Die the idea is much more prominent. When we are hit with a scene and a space you instantly start asking questions (who, where, what are they doing/saying) and then you slowly get the details from that. At the end of the scene you get the idea and move on but in this film that could usually take longer.