The Time to Live and the Time to Die

The Time to Live and the Time to Die uses Hou Hsiao-hsien’s own voice as the voice-over narrator to trace the maturation of Ah-ha across the years 1947 to 1965. The film begins with the filmmaker recounting how his father, a public servant in the Nationalist government, brought the family to Taiwan to live in Hsinchu and then moved to a dormitory in Fengshan, Kaohsiung due to his ill health.

Ah-ha’s grandmother would frequently call him to dinner and sometimes escort him on trips back toward China, a journey that is physically impossible and perplexing to the locals. The story then follows the death of Ah-ha’s father, a sickly man whose passing leaves his mother to raise her children alone while sharing memories of her life, including the loss of her eldest daughter in infancy.

As Ah-ha grows into a rebellious high school student, the film captures a tense wartime atmosphere visible in the tank tracks on the road. He flirts with danger, getting into scraps with peers and local gangs, and even acting out against authority—deflating a teacher’s bike tire after a dispute and shattering a veteran’s window.

The death of his mother from tongue cancer marks a turning point, prompting him to re-evaluate his priorities. He falls in love with a girl from another high school who makes his future seem possible—on the condition that he first gain admission to college. His resolve is tested when, a year later, he fails the exam. The setback deepens his guilt over his grandmother’s absence; she dies at home, unnoticed by him and his two younger brothers, and a mortician quietly rebukes the family for their lack of filial piety as half her body lies in decay.

The film closes with a quiet, lingering reflection from the narrator on the long road he walked with his grandmother toward China and the guava trees they gathered along the way, a memory that underlines how memory itself can endure long after the living have moved on.

Last Updated: November 29, 2025 at 00:47