A City of Sadness

A City of Sadness follows the Lin family in Taiwan during the years after Japanese rule ends in 1945 and the Kuomintang takes control of the island. The father and his four sons are pulled in different directions by the upheaval around them, and the family becomes caught up in the political repression known as the White Terror. The youngest brother, Wen-Ching, is deaf and mute and works as a photographer; his involvement with the government's opponents places him at the centre of the story's conflict.

Hou Hsiao-hsien directed the film from a screenplay by Chu Tien-wen and Wu Nien-Jen, with Chiu Fu-Sheng producing. It was made in Taiwan and Hong Kong and runs 158 minutes. Tony Leung Chiu-wai plays Wen-Ching, alongside Hsin Shu-Fen, Chan Chung-Yung, Jack Kao and Tai Bo among a credited cast of 23. The film sits between The Time to Live and the Time to Die (1985) and Flowers of Shanghai (1998) in Hou's filmography.

A City of Sadness holds a critics' rating of 9.3 out of 10 from 13 reviews, notably higher than its audience scores of 7.8 on IMDb from around 6,900 votes and 7.5 on TMDB from roughly 160 votes. That gap suggests critics responded to the film considerably more strongly than general viewers did.