This is Hou’s masterpiece – a mammoth work about tradition and family, astonishingly crafted, and wrapped in the kind of historical fervour that gives it its power.

A lesser-known Hou film, but not any less brilliant – this is a gritty, uncompromising look at small-time crime in the backwaters of Taipei.

One of Hou’s most stylish films that continues with his obsession with depicting ennui and alienation among youth, with Shu Qi giving a superb performance.

An unexpectedly weaker effort from Hou —this is a well-intentioned experimental exercise in form, style and structure, but it comes off as uneven and unsatisfactory.