The Time to Live and the Time to Die (1985) on Netflix
Ah-ha's family leaves mainland China for Taiwan, and his father's ill health moves them to a dormitory in Fengshan, Kaohsiung. His grandmother walks him down the road she calls home.
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- Netflix4.4/5
- IMDb7.5/103,987 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
Ah-ha's father is a public servant in the Nationalist government who brings his family from mainland China to Taiwan, first to Hsinchu and then, because of his ill health, to a dormitory in Fengshan, Kaohsiung. The family never manages to return to the mainland. His mother raises the children and tells them stories from her own life. His grandmother calls Ah-ha in for dinner and sometimes takes him along on the road she treats as the way back to China, a journey that is physically impossible and that confuses local residents. Tank tracks on the local asphalt roads show that Taiwan is at war.
Cast
- Ng Siu-Ying
- Hu Hsiang-Ping
- Lam Shung-Man
- Chan Hon-Man
- Kao Chung-Li
Show all 16 cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Time to Live and the Time to Die (1985)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The Time to Live and the Time to Die draws on director Hou Hsiao-hsien's own life: it was shot in his old family home in Fengshan District, Kaohsiung, and he recorded the film's voice-over narration himself.
- Nearly all the cast were non-professionals picked by Hou Hsiao-hsien, and both Yu An-Shun and Hsin Shu-fen made their debuts here. Yu An-Shun was introduced to Hou by actress Yang Li-Yin and cinematographer Chen Huai-En, while Hsin Shu-fen was spotted near a theatre in Ximending, Taipei.
- Actress Yang Li-Yin, a regular in Hou Hsiao-hsien's films, volunteered as assistant director in charge of props on this film, her first technical crew job. She said she did not do it well, and Hou joked afterwards that she had better stick to acting.
- Actress Chen Shu-Fang's part in the film was cut from the 2013 digital restoration because the film material had decayed, and the restored version was defective as a result.
- Actress Mei Fang, fluent in Taiwanese, Hakka and Mandarin, was the dubbing instructor during the shoot and taught most of the cast how to speak Hakka.
