Dust in the Wind (1986) continues Hou Hsiao-hsien's tradition of using someone's memories of growing up as the inspiration for the story. This time it is Wu Nien-Jen's turn. He is the other screenwriter who has frequently worked with Hou. I would also like to mention that Wu Nien-Jen had one of the main roles in Edward Yang's Yi yi which belongs to my all-time favourite films. The film focuses on two young friends who move from their poor hometown to Taipei in search of a job to earn money for their families.
Hou delivers some social criticism this time, regarding the harsh conditions of surviving in an urban Taiwan - and it also raises negative points about military. The two main characters are observed in an interesting way and I grew to really like them during the film. Despite of that, the film never reaches an impact as huge as Hou's other films through subtlety.
Hou's form is solid yet again, but his trademarks dont show up as obviously as in his other films. Yet again, I have to mention his habit of using same compositions more than once during a film. In Dust in the Wind, his compositions of the train station are used in a brilliant way. Especially the last use of the long distance composition is haunting.
In the end, Dust in the Wind is a very good film, but not necessarily great. It works well enough on all aspects, but that's it.
Score: 8 out of 10
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