Synopsis: A Taiwanese rewrite of Martin Scorsese's MEAN STREETS, the Hou Hsiao-Hsien film GOODBYE SOUTH, GOODBYE stars Jack Kao (a veteran of several Hou films) as Gao, the head of a group of misfits involved in one get-rich-quick scheme or another. A big fish in a small pond, Gao is responsible for the... A Taiwanese rewrite of Martin Scorsese's MEAN STREETS, the Hou Hsiao-Hsien film GOODBYE SOUTH, GOODBYE stars Jack Kao (a veteran of several Hou films) as Gao, the head of a group of misfits involved in one get-rich-quick scheme or another. A big fish in a small pond, Gao is responsible for the welfare of a large extended family, as well as his volatile young friend, Flat Head (Taiwanese singing star and Hou film veteran, Lim Giong). Tired of his life, Gao only wants to buy a restaurant in Shanghai and marry his girlfriend, who threatens to leave him for a new life in America. He devises a plan to raise the money for the restaurant by trading subsidized pigs to the government for cash. Things seem easy enough, until the temperamental Flat Head antagonizes the wrong people, and sets them on a collision course with the dangerous big league world of powerful politics and gangsters. Hou's follow up to his ambitious historical trilogy is a departure for the director, with its strictly contemporary setting, focus on urban life, fast pacing, and aggressive, pulsating soundtrack. Yet Hou's unique visual style remains, making this film an exciting and welcome addition to the Hou Hsiao-Hsien canon. [More]