A Time to Live, a Time to Die

A tender coming-of-age portrait of family, loss and a rapidly changing Taiwan from Hou Hsiao-hsien.

Spanning the years of 1947 to 1965, we follow a Chinese emigrant family who have settled in the Fengshan district in Taiwan. Seen mostly through the eyes of Ah-ha, we follow the young boy's development from a mischievous child to a rebellious teenager and adult. He aimlessly flirts with college and military school, experiences the first pangs of love, all the while getting into fights with the local street gang.

Meanwhile, his family weather the storm of loss, hardship and a tumultuous foundational era for Taiwan.

Curator’s note
Part of a loose autobiographical trilogy, The Time to Live and the Time to Die was director Hou Hsiao-hsien's international breakthrough. Shot in his own home and neighbourhood, Hsiao-hsien brings a realistic eye to his childhood recollections, going as far as providing the voice over narration.

The Time to Live and the Time to Die gathers most of the qualities that would come to define the Taiwan New Wave: non-actors, real locations and an emphasis on lived-in daily life. It is a masterwork about the inevitability of grief and the passage of time amid historical upheaval.