The Puppetmaster

You’re Li Tien-lu in 1940s Taipei, threading marionettes across a cramped stage while Japanese censors lurk in the back row. The poles move faster than the laws can keep up. A veteran director once shot in black and white on gelatin-silver streets that still smell of wet ink and gunpowder.

Streaming availability changes weekly. Check the Where to watch panel above — we re-pull TMDB's JustWatch index every week. If nothing's listed, the film is between licence windows.

Our similarity graph picks 6 films based on shared director, keywords, mood-cluster overlap, and MovieLens user co-rating — niche-biased away from blockbusters. Full list: /like/the-puppetmaster-1993/.

Hou Hsiao-hsien directed The Puppetmaster in 1993. See Hou Hsiao-hsien's full filmography, where to start with Hou Hsiao-hsien, or where to go after you've seen everything by Hou Hsiao-hsien.

The Puppetmaster was released in 1993 (ZH original-language production), with a runtime of 143 minutes.