his storytelling is elliptical and his style marked by extreme long takes with minimal camera movement but intricate choreography of actors and space within the frame. he uses extensive improvisation to arrive at the final shape of his scenes and the low-key, naturalistic acting of his performers. his compositions are decentered, and links between shots do not adhere to an obvious temporal or causal narrative logic. without abandoning his famous austerity, his imagery has developed a sensual beauty during the 1990s, partly under the influence of his collaboration with cinematographer mark lee ping-bin. hou's consistent screenwriting collaborator since the mid-1980s has been the renowned author chu t’ien-wen, a collaboration that began with the screenplay for chen kunhou's 1983 film, "growing up". he has also cast revered puppeteer li tian-lu as an actor in several of his movies, most notably "the puppetmaster" (1993), which is based on li's life.