Review of Daughter of the Nile / 尼羅河女兒, directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien

I’ve known about Hou’s work ever since I was an undergraduate freshman, as I took Chinese Cinema with a professor who specialized in Taiwan and Chinese literature. She used to gush about Hou’s filmography, but I never had the chance to see any of it, though I wanted to.

I’m the master of procrastinating when it comes to these kinds of things, especially movies. When there are movies I want to watch, it sometimes takes me years before I find the motivation to actually watch them. It’s a strange pitfall, and Daughter of the Nile ended up on one of these lists.

What got me to finally watch it? The little timer on MUBI that tells you a movie is leaving in XYZ days. With only three days left to go, I pressed play on this movie and I was sure as heck trying to finish it in time. And I did at the end of the day, which made me appreciate the film even more.

Here’s my review.

Hsiao-yang is just trying to keep her family together, even when it seems more unlikely.

Our main character in this film is a young woman named Hsiao-yang, who lives with her family in a tiny home. In the day, she works at a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), trying to make enough money to help pay the bills, and she attends a school at night.

Her father is pretty absentee at times, as his work takes him out of the town. Her mother and eldest brother are dead, so when Hsiao-yang is at home, she has to take care of her remaining siblings.

Her younger sister isn’t even a teen yet, but is beginning to steal things in a petty manner. Her brother, though, has already become a full-on gang member and robs people in order to find his way around town.

In order to escape sometimes, Hsiao-yang puts on her little headphone set and opens up her graphic novel. The main character in the novel is the Daughter of the Nile, and in a way, this little graphic novel allows her the opportunity to temporarily act her age and escape from everything going on around her.

We sometimes forget that she is a young woman too, and she’s working hard and sacrificing in order to try and provide a better life for her siblings. She is only 20, and she has so much weight on her shoulders due to an immeasurable loss from the death of her mother and brother.

As her siblings increasingly slip into a life of crime, she can only do what she can to try and prevent it. There are some brilliant performances from all of these actors throughout the course of the film, although the actress playing the main character is one of the standouts to me.

But one of the most striking aspects of the film is the how it handles the technical elements. While the story is only one key part to understanding this movie, Taipei is film beautifully. With the music that’s woven into certain scenes, this is truly a cinematic and artistic experience throughout its run time.

Overall Thoughts

What a gorgeous film this was. I think I’ll be returning to it in the near future to bask in its glory, although the plot was pretty straightforward at times. Some things don’t really need to be complicated to be beautiful.

I honestly don’t have much else to say—I’ve already said what needs to be said about this movie. Go watch it if you haven’t already—I think it’s worth picking up at least once.

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