Review for Daughter of the Nile

Having never seen a film by Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien (The Assassin, Three Times, Flight of the Red Balloon) before, I really didn’t know what to expect. What I do know is, it wasn’t this. ‘Daughter of the Nile’ is a curiously slow moving drama which put me more in mind of the so-called French New Wave, and in particular, one of its most prolific exponents, Éric Rohmer who also uses very understated and naturalistic performances and almost documentary-like cinematography.


I thought, from the descriptor that came with the film about it being set in a hyper-violent, neon-soaked 1980’s Tapei, that this would be an action-packed urban thriller. But is it is far from that and that is by no means necessarily a bad thing .


Coming straight-after his so-called ‘coming of age’ trilogy, and before his historical dramas which followed, ‘Daughter of the Nile’ is a contemporary (1987) drama about a young female student struggling to support her dysfunctional family in 1980’s Taiwan.


Lin (Lin Hsiao-yang, a famous pop singer of the day) works as a waitress in a Kentucky Fried Chicken as well as attending night school. She is in love with her brother’s friend, local gigolo Ah-sang (Fan Yang) but that doesn’t make life simple. Not only that, her younger brother (the older one is dead, along with her mother) seems set on becoming a career criminal and that brings stress too.


Her Father works out of town, as a policeman, most the time so she is left caring for her younger sister as well as herself. As a means of escape she fantasises about becoming the so-called ‘Daughter of the Nile’, a very popular Manga at the time, which told the tale of a girl (just like Lin) who finds herself transported back in time to ancient Egypt where she falls in love with a handsome young Pharoe who only has a limited time to live.



Lin’s real-life love of Ah-Sang is pretty much unrequited and the film doesn’t really so much more than explore things as they are. There is nothing in the way of a definitive resolution – the film exists entirely as a slice of time. Apparently it was based on the personal experiences of the film’s screenwriter, Chu T’ien-wen (Millennium Mambo; Goodbye South, Goodbye; City of Sadness), and has a slightly depressing air of existential gloom.


The 4K restoration looks good (just 1080p here) although the film itself has signs of natural film-grain, a desirable look back in the 1980s. Audio is PCM Mono and perfectly good and subtitles work just fine.


Extra features are fairly slight though the inclusion of a lengthy (45 minute) interview with Asian cinema expert Tony Rayns was invaluable, though you must see the film before you watch it as it’s full of spoilers.


Also included is a theatrical trailer and a booklet which is also informative.
I’m unsure how well ‘Daughter of the Nile’ will be received by the UK home video market. Hopefully, fans of the ‘Masters of Cinema’ series will give it a go based on the reputation of the brand in bringing relatively unknown, but well-thought of works to a wider audience of cinephiles. But the film has never had any kind of release (as far as I am aware) in the UK so will be new to one and all. It’s a gentle film that will not make huge waves so I suspect will not end up as one of Eureka’s best sellers.