Les garçons de Fengkuei

Although "Boys From Fengkuei," one of Hou's earliest films, shows that the director had yet to find his own distinct style ( long shots, long takes, etc that would finally solidify in the tedious "A Time to Live and a Time to Die") it is an interesting film, especially for those keen to see the early development of one of the world's major filmmakers. The story is a simple one: a group of the idle youths shoot pool, flirt with girls (the film's enduring image) and cause a general ruckus in a small seaside town. Boredom and lack of cash cause them to move to big city Kaosuing where their small-town naivete becomes apparent (they are almost immediately upon arrival ripped off in an obvious con promising a porn film screening). Eventually they move into an apartment together and the most introspective of the bunch proceeds to fall for the girlfriend of a rather shady neighbor. Although the film may come off as slight compared to the director's later, more political work, it is an interesting little piece in itself. First of all, it is one of Hou's most entertaining and heartfelt pictures: he obviously has a love for this milieu (the small-time activities of punks), having grown up in it himself, and "Boys" shows surprising humor and depth of feeling that is lost in the director's dry later formal portraits of delinquents "Goodbye South, Goodbye" and "Millenium Mambo." There is also the theme that will be revisited in the great film "Dust in the Wind": that of the migration of the rural populace to the city, and the displacement that results. "Boys" lacks the technical polish and "importance" of the later films, but it is perhaps unfairly tagged as an apprentice work (along with the beautiful "Summer at Grandpa's") even though it has all the markings of a minor classic.

Searching for a specifically Chinese approach to filmmaking, Hou Hsiao-hsien's The Boys From Fengkuei was the first film in what has become the traditional Hou style, extended long takes and a fixed-camera angle that heightens the sense of real time. The film depicts the social and economic changes taking place in postwar Taiwan as reflected in the lives of ordinary working class teenagers. After finishing school, the friends have little to do but spend time getting into trouble with the police. They play crude practical jokes, gamble, drink, fight, and chase girls as they wait for compulsory military service. The most introspective of the group, Ah-Ching lives in two worlds, the dissonant world of his buddies and the traditional culture that comes back to him in flashes of memory of his father when he was a young boy.

Constantly berated by his mother for his lack of ambition, Ah-Ching and two friends leave their traditional island home in Penghu to look for work in the Southern city of Kaohsiung. On the surface, the boys are street-wise, but beneath their swagger, their naivete is apparent when they are conned into paying to see non-existent porn movies on the 11th floor of a high-rise building. Ah-Ching's sister offers the boys an apartment and they find jobs in a local factory but an infatuation with a hoodlum's girl friend leaves Ah-Ching more alone than when he came. The only film of Hou to use Western classical music as a background, The Boys From Fengkuei is a work of nostalgia and remembrance, touching on love, respect for tradition, and the joy and pain of growing up.

In 2015 this film has been restored and transferred to 4K DCP, this is the version I saw. Of the early films I have seen of Hsiao-hsien, so far I like this one the least.

To get my criticism out of the way first, I found the pacing of the film not quite right. I like his slow style but it is very delicate; to get it right is an art in itself and in this movie it is just not quite there yet. The story also has some comedy aspects which I found didn't always work well.

Of course I am not Taiwanese and it is not 1983, that may be well be contributing factors in my being somewhat underwhelmed.

But don't get me wrong, I am in no way saying this is a bad film. It is just that some of the films he made a few years later, such as 'Dust in the wind' use many of the same techniques but do it much better. That film has some very similar scenes and plot lines.

We do see Hsiao-hsien's developing his style; there are some beautiful long shots of people doing mundane things. For instance, the female lead buys some flowers at a stall, and this simple moment is captured in a very humanistic and tender fashion.

I also love how the characters are internally conflicted but unable to express their feelings, and how this is conveyed in a minimalistic way. Scenes in which people say their goodbyes, life weighing heavy on their minds, but not acknowledging this to one another spring to mind.

I'd say that as an insight into the filmmaker's development it is definitely interesting to watch, but it is not yet masterful.