Four Moods

The four segments

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 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

Anger (怒), directed by King Hu, was adapted from a famous Peking opera and captures a showdown between political schemers, avengers, and vagabonds inside an inn.¹ 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 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

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 The same commentary suggests the segment is possibly misnamed, being more about self-destructive anger and vengefulness than sadness.²

Happiness (樂), directed by Li Han-hsiang, was inspired by The Strange Tales of Liaozhai and tells of a benign ghost.¹ 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 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