The Green, Green Grass of Home

Hou Hsiao-hsien’s third feature finds him on the cusp of developing his mature style, sharpening his powers of human observation in a charming look at rural-urban culture clash.Kenny Bee plays a schoolteacher from Taipei who arrives in a small town to take a new job as instructor to a class of mischievous students. Hou captures the slice-of-life blend of comedy, romance, and everyday drama that ensues with gentle humanism and glimpses of the evocative long takes that would soon become his signature.