Like the films of Ozu, Dreyer, or Von Trier, Hou Hsiao-Hsien's films tend to alienate a good portion of their audiences and turn the others into raving mad fanatics of the director's work. I'm definitely one of the fanatics.
Good Men Good Women is one of Hou's more ambitious films. It, like the Puppetmaster, attempts to meld the lives of its main character to the history of the period of Taiwan in which that character lived. In this film, Hou examines the life of an actress in the present day as she prepares for her next role as an anti-Japanese freedom fighter who was of some national acclaim in the 1940's and 1950's. The film freely changes time periods between the modern day actress's life, the life of the freedom fighter she's playing, the actress's own past, and the actress's conception of her role in outtakes from the film she's to shoot. This is somewhat confusing, as the film expects you to put it all together yourself, but the answers are all there for you to find.
The film's acting and pacing are similar to other films by Hou, but the film is shorter than most of his others, which might make it a great introduction to his work. I'd reccomend it highly to anyone though, as it proves challenging, artistic, politically bold films are still being made.
