Millennium Mambo

(Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2001, Taiwan/France, 101 minutes)

4K restoration!

Returning to youth culture for the first time since Daughter of the Nile, and in the process making a more freewheeling and modern-feeling film than those he was then known for, director Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Millennium Mambo finds a bar hostess named Vicky (Chinese superstar Shu Qi, in her first role of now four for Hou) circa Y2K, trying and failing to remove herself from the life of her layabout boyfriend Hao-Hao (Chun-hao Tuan). Featuring some of the best cinematography of, well, the millennium, courtesy of frequent Hou collaborator Mark Lee Ping-bin (In the Mood for Love), who has said that he shot this film on 35mm with the intention of making it look like it was shot on digital. A favorite among the Webster Film Series community for years, we last ran Millennium Mambo in February 2023. We’re always game to revisit this film, but what better time than wedged between the HHH-produced Daughter’s Daughter and the Shu Qi-starring Resurrection?

In Mandarin with English subtitles.

You may also like the following events from Webster University Film Series:

• This Thursday, 27th November, 07:00 pm, Orwell: 2+2=5 in Webster Groves
• Next Sunday, 7th December, 07:00 pm, What's Up, Doc? in Webster Groves
• Next month, 9th December, 07:00 pm, Hundreds of Beavers in Webster Groves

Also check out other Entertainment events in Webster Groves.