The Puppetmaster
by Hsiao-hsien Hou
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Chingju Huang, Fue Choung Cheng, Giong Lim, Ming Hwa Bai, Tianlu LiDirector: Hsiao-hsien Hou
Writer: Tianlu Li
Producer: Dengkui Yang
Producer: Fu-Sheng Chiu
Producer: Hongzhi Zhan
Producer: Huakun Zhang
Writer: Nien-Jen Wu
Writer: T'ien-wen Chu
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Cantonese (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 142 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-09-25
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Fox Lorber
Movie Reviews of The Puppetmaster
Movie Review: Hou's one of the most unknown great directors
Summary: 5 Stars
...Hou's "The Puppetmaster" is actually a period drama that has no special effects in it at all. It deals with the life of a puppetmaster (no, not John Malkovich)in Taiwan in the late 19th century. The film integrates documentary interviews with its real life subject and fictional recreations of moments in his life. I'm not intimately familiar with the history of Taiwan, but this film makes this man's life parallel it. Most of the film takes place during Taiwan's occupation by Japan, and the film shows the way that the Taiwanese people were forced to give up a great deal of their culture (making the oral histories that the puppetmaster tells that much more valuable.)Hou's style in this film uses a mostly static camera. He allows us to see the rhythm of Taiwanese life as it actually was. We get to see several demonstrations of the puppetmaster's talents, and we get to see "behind the scenes" as he gets his job and learns the trade. The narrator is displaced from his family by a result of his choice in career (since he needs to live with his mentor) and the film has an overall sense of both personal and national loss. It's not a film that has a great deal of action, and the average shot's length can be measured in minutes instead of seconds, so the 2 1/2 hour running time may be tough for some to swallow. Nonetheless, there are several stunning shots and an overall impact that you feel at the end of the film that make it more than worthwhile.
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