{ "id": "epmz2e3x24", "slug": "four-moods", "title": "Four Moods", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "label": "Films by genre, form, and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts", "label": "Animated and short films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.short-films-individual", "label": "Individual short films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.short-films-individual" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "label": "China · 1946 to 2000: Films by genre, form, and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "path": [ { "id": "geo.chn", "label": "China", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946", "label": "China · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "label": "Films by genre, form, and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Four Moods (Hsi nou ai le) is a 1970 Taiwanese portmanteau ghost-story film with segments by Pai Ching-jui, King Hu, Lee Hsing, and Li Han-hsiang, made unpaid to save Li's studio and restored by the Taiwan Film Institute.", "snippet": "Four Moods (Hsi nou ai le) is a 1970 Taiwanese portmanteau ghost-story film with segments by Pai Ching-jui, King Hu, Lee Hsing, and Li Han-hsiang, made unpaid to save Li's studio and restored by the Taiwan Film Institute.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.short-films-individual", "markdown": "# Four Moods\n\n**Four Moods** (original title *Hsi nou ai le*) is a 1970 Taiwanese portmanteau film consisting of four ghost-story segments, each directed by one of Taiwan's leading filmmakers of the period: Pai Ching-jui (白景瑞), King Hu (胡金銓), Lee Hsing (李行), and Li Han-hsiang (李翰祥).[1](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/four-moods/264663) The costume dramas explore four feelings, joy, anger, sadness, and happiness, in stories of people confronted with the supernatural.[1](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/four-moods/264663)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title | *Hsi nou ai le*; language Mandarin Chinese[1](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/four-moods/264663) |\n| Directors | Pai Ching-jui, King Hu, Lee Hsing, and Li Han-hsiang, one segment each[2](https://notesonfilm1.com/2024/01/28/thinking-aloud-about-film-four-moods-taiwan-1970/) |\n| Year and country | Taiwan, 1970[1](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/four-moods/264663) |\n| Running time | 140 minutes per Eye Filmmuseum; 144 minutes per the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute's restored DCP[1](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/four-moods/264663) • [3](https://www.tfai.org.tw/en/program/movieDetail/2c9680829be501b8019c40c560440088) |\n| Structure | Four ghost stories, one per mood: Joy, Anger, Sadness, Happiness[2](https://notesonfilm1.com/2024/01/28/thinking-aloud-about-film-four-moods-taiwan-1970/) |\n| Purpose | Made to relieve a financial crisis at Li Han-hsiang's Grand Motion Picture Company; the directors and lead cast took no pay[3](https://www.tfai.org.tw/en/program/movieDetail/2c9680829be501b8019c40c560440088) |\n| Restoration | Restored by the Taiwan Film Institute; screened at Locarno and the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival in 2014 and at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in 2023[3](https://www.tfai.org.tw/en/program/movieDetail/2c9680829be501b8019c40c560440088) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### The four segments\n\n**Joy** (喜), directed by Pai Ching-jui, adapts a story from the classical Chinese collection *Strange Tales of Liaozhai* (《聊齋》) into what the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute calls a playful ghost farce. A prudish scholar obsessed with the idea that books hold a beautiful companion meets a female spirit, played by Zhen Zhen, at night and instantly turns lustful, his \"joy\" revealed as desire. Featuring barely any dialogue, the segment moves forward via sound effects, music, and punchy rhythmic cutting; the colored lighting by cinematographer Lin Tsan-ting lends the space an eerie quality, and jump cuts along with speed effects pay tribute to silent-era comedy.[3](https://www.tfai.org.tw/en/program/movieDetail/2c9680829be501b8019c40c560440088) In the plot as summarized by the Melbourne International Film Festival, a scholar chases a grave robber from a cemetery and restores the disturbed grave; a beautiful girl appears to reward him and accompanies him home, but vanishes overnight, sending him into a frantic search.[4](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/15746/four-moods)\n\n**Anger** (怒), directed by King Hu, was adapted from a famous [Peking opera](https://www.edgepedia.org/peking-opera) and captures a showdown between political schemers, avengers, and vagabonds inside an inn.[1](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/four-moods/264663) In the MIFF synopsis, Chiao Chen, on his way to political exile, is attacked by thugs hired by his enemies, escapes, and puts up for the night at a small inn, where at midnight the innkeeper and his wife set out to murder him.[4](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/15746/four-moods) A Letterboxd reviewer places the segment in Hu's \"inn film\" vein alongside *Dragon Inn*, contrasting its emphasis on action with the atmosphere of the other segments.[5](https://embed.letterboxd.com/film/four-moods/reviews/)\n\n**Sadness** (哀), directed by Lee Hsing, whom one commentary calls the \"godfather of Taiwanese cinema,\" follows Lan Wang, who frames Ugly Wei and has him sentenced to seven years in prison. On release Wei returns home to find his family killed by Lan and sets out for revenge on Lan's family.[4](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/15746/four-moods) The same commentary suggests the segment is possibly misnamed, being more about self-destructive anger and vengefulness than sadness.[2](https://notesonfilm1.com/2024/01/28/thinking-aloud-about-film-four-moods-taiwan-1970/)\n\n**Happiness** (樂), directed by Li Han-hsiang, was inspired by *The Strange Tales of Liaozhai* and tells of a benign ghost.[1](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/four-moods/264663) While fishing, Master Hsu encounters Wang, a ghost who befriends him and says he will become human again when a young girl takes her own life. The next morning Hsu saves a girl about to jump into the river; Wang blames him for costing him a chance at life, and Hsu promises not to interfere when the opportunity comes again.[4](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/15746/four-moods) A Letterboxd review notes the segment ends with the maxim \"doing good is the greatest joy,\" thanking the three directors who helped Li Han-hsiang.[5](https://embed.letterboxd.com/film/four-moods/reviews/)\n\n## Production background\n\nThe film was conceived as a project to raise funds for Li Han-hsiang's then ailing Grand Motion Picture Company in Taiwan.[2](https://notesonfilm1.com/2024/01/28/thinking-aloud-about-film-four-moods-taiwan-1970/) According to the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute, three leading directors joined the project to relieve the financial crisis at Li's Guolian studio, and the directors and principal cast worked without pay, an arrangement that became a celebrated story in Chinese-language cinema.[3](https://www.tfai.org.tw/en/program/movieDetail/2c9680829be501b8019c40c560440088) The Melbourne International Film Festival, which screened the film in 1972, described it as a landmark for Taiwan as the result of a collaboration between the industry's top directors and stars.[4](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/15746/four-moods)\n\nKing Hu (1931–1997), whose martial arts films lifted Chinese cinema to new technical and artistic heights, contributed the *Anger* segment.[1](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/four-moods/264663)\n\n## Restoration and later screenings\n\nThe Taiwan Film Institute (now the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute) restored the film, and the restoration screened at the Locarno Film Festival and the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival in 2014 and at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in South Korea in 2023.[3](https://www.tfai.org.tw/en/program/movieDetail/2c9680829be501b8019c40c560440088) Eye Filmmuseum has paired the restoration with screenings of restored King Hu works including *Dragon Inn*, *A Touch of Zen*, and *Legend of the Mountain*.[1](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/four-moods/264663)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Four Moods, Eye Filmmuseum](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/four-moods/264663)\n2. [Thinking Aloud About Film: Four Moods (Taiwan, 1970), First Impressions (NotesonFilm1)](https://notesonfilm1.com/2024/01/28/thinking-aloud-about-film-four-moods-taiwan-1970/)\n3. [Four Moods (Restored), Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute](https://www.tfai.org.tw/en/program/movieDetail/2c9680829be501b8019c40c560440088)\n4. [Four Moods, MIFF Film Archive](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/15746/four-moods)\n5. [Reviews of Four Moods (1970), Letterboxd](https://embed.letterboxd.com/film/four-moods/reviews/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Animated and short films › Individual short films*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/four-moods", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/four-moods.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Four Moods\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/four-moods. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Four Moods](https://www.edgepedia.org/four-moods)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/four-moods](https://www.edgepedia.org/four-moods). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Four Moods\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/four-moods. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Four Moods is a 1970 Taiwanese portmanteau ghost-story film with segments by Pai Ching-jui, King Hu, Lee Hsing, and Li Han-hsiang, made unpaid to save Li's studio and restored by the Taiwan Film Institute." }