The Puppetmaster

Taiwan under Japanese rule, from 1909 to the end of the occupation in 1945, is the long stretch of years the film moves through. Li Tien-lu (Lim Giong) is a master puppeteer remembering his own life, and Hou Hsiao-hsien lets the real Li Tian-Lu sit on screen to tell parts of it himself. The island is being remade around him, and what he has to carry is the memory of his family and the trade.