Daughter of the Nile () is a 1987 film by Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien. Background The film's title is a reference to a character in a manga called Crest of the Royal Family who is hailed as Daughter of the Nile. The film is a study of the life of young people in contemporary Taipei urban life, focusing on the marginalised figure of a woman and centred on a fast-food server's hapless crush on a gigolo. The introductory sequence of the film suggests a parallel between the difficulties faced by people in the film (Taiwan's urban youth, transitioning from a classical civilization into a changing world) and the mythic struggles of characters in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. It features Taiwan pop singer Lin Yang, Jack Kao (Kao Jai) as her brother, and Tianlu Li in the role of the grandfather. Li became a central part of Hou's major films, and Kao starred in several of them. Synopsis Lin Hsiao-yang (Lin Yang), tries to keep her family together while working as a waitress at Kentucky Fried Chicken and going to night school. Her mother and older brother are dead. Her father (Fu Sheng Tsui) works out of town. It is up to Lin Hsiao-yang to take care of her pre-teen sister, who has already begun to steal, and a brother (Jack Kao) who is a burglar and gang member. Cast Lin Yang as Lin Hsiao-yang Jack Kao as Lin Hsiao-fang, the brother Fan Yang as Ah-sang Tianlu Li as Grandfather Fu Sheng Tsui as Father Xin Shufen as Xiao-fen, Shao Fang's fiance Yu An-shun as Hsiao-yang's Classmate Wu Nien-jen as Tutor Additional cast Huang Chiung-yao Chen Chien-wen Yang Tzu-tei Lin Chu Chen Shu-fang Tsai Tsan-te Tian Weiwei You Jingru Lei Guowei Zue Zhizheng Zhu Youcheng Critical response In his 2008 in-depth analysis of Daughter of the Nile, Michael Joshua Rowin of Reverse Shot wrote that Daughter is one of Hou's most accessible films, and that although the film never found theatrical distribution in the United States and never received a home video release, its foreshadowing of the themes Hou would later use in Millennium Mambo, Hou's first film to be distributed in the United States, make Daughter ripe for rediscovery, summarizing "Daughter's themes and immediate imagery would be the future of Hou." Screenings and reception The film was originally released in October 1987 at the Turin International Film Festival