Café Lumière

Original title: Kôhî jikô

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

The story revolves around Yoko Inoue, a pregnant woman in search of a cafe that was frequented by a Taiwanese composer whose life she is researching.The story revolves around Yoko Inoue, a pregnant woman in search of a cafe that was frequented by a Taiwanese composer whose life she is researching.The story revolves around Yoko Inoue, a pregnant woman in search of a cafe that was frequented by a Taiwanese composer whose life she is researching.

Director
- Hsiao-Hsien Hou
Writers
- Hsiao-Hsien Hou
- T'ien-wen Chu
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

3.4K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Hsiao-Hsien Hou
Writers
- Hsiao-Hsien Hou
- T'ien-wen Chu
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 3 wins & 4 nominations total

Photos10

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Storyline

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Trivia
Ten days were spent to catch the famous sequence with the two main characters in the same take but on different trains. Each day there was only a three hour window where the trains crossed in this way.

Soundtracks
Maggio Suite
Composed by Wen Ye Jiang
Performed by J. Y. Song

User reviews29

Featured review

10/10

Another masterpiece from Hou Hsiao-hsien

Hou Hsiao-hsien's previous film, "Millennium Mambo," was filled with pulsating colors and rhythms - "Cafe Lumiere," on the other hand, offers us classical piano music, bookshops, and trains... lots of trains.

To me, the plot, and in some way the characters, seemed very fluid - you never knew where the film was leading you, and (as in many of Hou's films) it's left up to you to form your own opinion about the characters.

"Cafe Lumiere" is a very languid, soothing film, filled with marvelous images and memorable vignettes. It is not a good place for a newcomer to Hou's films to start (try "Mambo" for that), and not a good film for the impatient. However, if you approach it in the right frame of mind, you will find yourself somehow transported into another person's life for a couple of hours, and come out with the film rattling around your subconscious for days afterward.