The Sandwich Man
Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien, Tseng Chuang-hsiang, Wan Jen
1983 / 105min / DCP
A foundational text of the Taiwanese New Wave, omnibus triptych The Sandwich Man represented a clean break from the cloying sentimentality of most of the country’s studio product, with director’s Hou, Wan, and Tseng each adapting stories from a collection by Huang Chung-ming and addressing, with bracing directness, the harsh realities of contemporary urban life. Hou bats leadoff with the devastating namesake segment, about a man eking out a living as a human advertising board; Tseng’s Vickie’s Hat offers a cautionary tale about the perils of modern convenience, namely imported Japanese pressure cookers; Wan’s The Taste of Apples acquaints us with a family in the Taipei City slums whose only hope for a glimpse of the good life is a bed in the American Navy hospital.
Distributor: Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute
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