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A Time to Live, a Time to Die

Play trailer A Time to Live, a Time to Die 1986,  2h 18m,  Biography/ Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist 100% 6 Reviews Tomatometer 80% 250+ Ratings Popcornmeter
100% Tomatometer 6 Reviews 80% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
A generational gap widens in a family cut off from its cultural heritage.

Critics Reviews

View All (6) Critics Reviews
Richard Brody The New Yorker [A] delicate, haunted drama, from 1986, in which the director Hou Hsiao-hsien conjures his reminiscences of childhood and adolescence in a remote Taiwan village in the nineteen-forties and fifties. May 2, 2011 Full Review Nick Schager Lessons of Darkness A near-masterpiece. Rated: A- •  May 4, 2005 Full Review

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member The gentle summer breeze, the trees swaying in the wind, the cluttered railway tracks, the wooden chopstick baskets on the wall, the camera maintains a sense of distance throughout, calmly watching the natural laws of growth, death, parting, and forgetting. At the end of the film, the grandmother dies and the result of growing up is directed towards oblivion, a journey that everyone is unwilling but unconscious to embark on. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review William L A film that might fall between the cracks among other sweeping Taiwanese social dramas (particularly in comparison to A Brighter Summer Day and the shared adolescent/youth gang narrative), but worthy of consideration as an independent work. The Time to Live and the Time to Die is a coming-of-age story told with a particularly methodical nature, often employing static camera techniques and incorporating moments of lethargy with just as much frequency as it does the key junctures in the life of young Ah-hsiao, creating a sense of familiarity with his circumstances that wouldn't have been possible with a simple review of influential events as if we, as viewers, were reviewing an obituary. Using the austere circumstance of his protagonist's upbringing (which were heavily influenced by his own life story), particularly the unsure identity in an international transplant family caught up in unexpected circumstances but still facing the trials of ordinary life, Hou creates a compelling standalone narrative as well as a representation of emerging Taiwanese culture. Beautiful cinematography only adds to the final product. Also, talk about a dark ending. Tinged with hope, but dark. (4/5) Rated 4 out of 5 stars 06/03/21 Full Review
A Time to Live, a Time to Die

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Movie Info

Synopsis A generational gap widens in a family cut off from its cultural heritage.
Director
Hsiao-hsien Hou, Jia-hua Lao, Lai-Yin Yang, Xiao-ming Xu
Screenwriter
T'ien-wen Chu, Hsiao-hsien Hou
Production Co
Central Motion Pictures Corporation
Genre
Biography, Drama
Original Language
Chinese
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 28, 2017
Runtime
2h 18m