Figure 5.1. Hou Hsiao-hsien constructed the title for Good Men, Good Women (Haonan haonu, 1995) by cutting and pasting from an art book on ancient calligraphy.

Figure 5.2. The complex temporality of the calligraph is made palpably clear in the sequence most prominently featuring calligraphy from City of Sadness (Beiqing chengshi, 1989). The sequence starts from upper-left, moving clockwise to the center image.

Figure 5.3. Characters mill through the narrative space in an Altmanesque cacophony of action, surrounded by calligraphy.

Figure 5.4. Calligraphic ornaments help the viewer navigate Hou’s narrative space. This pan from left to right finally stitches together the till-then disconnected spaces of the lobby.

Figure 5.5. Characters endure one loss after another; behind them a bright red scroll painting with the character for “longevity” haunts the background in shadow.

Figure 5.6. A message from prison: “Father is innocent. You have to live with dignity”—scrawled on cloth instead of paper, inscribed with the husband’s finger instead of a brush, and not in ink but rather his own blood.

Figure 5.7. The subtitles for voice and calligraphy feel radically different, but the latter usually goes untranslated. The calligraphic intertitle on the right translates the scroll painting being gifted in figure 5.2.