Café Lumiere

Colour, 35 mm
Japan, Taiwan, 2004, 104 min
Section: Horizons
Oficiální stránky: www.wildbunch.biz

Synopsis

Yoko lives in Tokyo and, as a free-lance writer, sets out on the trail of music legend Jiang Ewn-Eye. During this task, she makes the acquaintance of the owner of a second-hand bookshop called Hajime. They spend a lot of time together and, in his company, the girl experiences a rare spiritual tranquility and equilibrium. Hajime feels the same way yet, although his loves Yoko, he keeps silent. The girl leaves for busy Hokkaido to visit her uncle, who awaits an eye operation, and she also meets with her father and his wife. However, the easygoing atmosphere is disturbed when the girl makes a certain disclosure and by the way she sees her future panning out. Yoko has to re-think everything – her life, her relationship with her family and what awaits her in the next few months.

About the director

Hou Hsiao-hsien (b. 1947, Meixian, China) moved with his parents to Taiwan a year after his birth. He began his film career after completing his studies at the film faculty of Taiwan’s National Art Academy. He began to make a name for himself nternationally back during the 1980s when his films won awards at foreign festivals: The Time to Live and The Time to Die (Critics’ Award at the Berlin IFF 1986), City of Sadness (Golden Lion at the Venice IFF 1989) and The Puppetmaster (Jury Prize at Cannes 1993). He creates loose trilogies treating 20th century Taiwanese history in the form of intimate testimonies and autobiographic reminiscences. Other films: A Summer at Grandpa’s (1984), Good Men, Good Women (1995), Flowers of Shanghai (1998), and Millennium Mambo (2001). In the director’s words, the film Café Lumière celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of director Yasujiro Ozu. “I tried to imagine how Ozu would have made a film in today’s Japan.”