The Green, Green Grass of Home

Hou Hsiao-hsien is often regarded as a cinephile favorite and a regular guest at art festivals. But “The Green, Green Grass of Home” is a reminder of his earlier works, strongly influenced by a popular cycle of Taiwan romantic comedies. Hong-Kong popstar Kenny Bee portrays a town school teacher who finds himself working in a village and has to deal with a group of mischievous kids, illegal fishing, and blooming love.

What Hou made is, however, not simply a commercial comedy, he is infallibly accurate in choosing beautiful compositions and thoughtful direction of movement within a frame. Apart from environmental issues he builds up a conventional romantic plot and finds inspiration in Ozu’s student films from 1930s. “The Green, Green Grass of Home” is a unique experience that brings together a radical auteur with a non-traditional approach to a commercial and genre subject matter. – Dan Krátký