A City of Sadness focuses on one family but rhymes their affairs with the fate of Taiwan at a crucial turning point in its modern history. The action spans the years from 1945 (the end of the Japanese colonial period) to 1949 (the Communist takeover of Mainland China and the establishment of Chiang Kai-shek's government-in-exile in Taiwan). The opposite poles of the Lin family are the eldest son, a gangster, and the youngest son (played by Tony Leung), who befriends students of the movement campaigning for Taiwanese independence and self-government. At the heart of the film is Chiang Kai-shek's annihilation of the Independence Movement. The mere mention of these events has long been taboo in Taiwan, but the insistence of facing up to an outrage from the past doesn't obscure Hou's characteristic sensitivity to human drama. The film measures crimes in the gangster world against the undercover struggles of the resistance and finds both milieus bursting with stories and incidents to break the heart.-Tony Rayns, Vancouver Film Festival