Unfortunately, that's it for Hou on DVD.  I was able to pick up "City of Sadness" on PAL VHS before it went out of print, but could no longer find "The Puppetmaster".  In the US, Facets carries "A Time to Live and a Time to Die", which along with "City of Sadness" is considered his masterwork.  They also carry "Dust in the Wind".

As for "The Flowers of Shanghai", "hermetic" probably best describes the film.  There is literally no interaction with the outside world, although external events clearly affect the existence of the "flower girls".  What struck me most in the film was the recurring image of the amber glow of the oil lamp on the table.  Visually, it was as if the lighting of the lamp brought the characters to life, and the characters ceased to exist when the fire died out.

"The Flowers of Shanghai" is a transitional film for Hou, so it is not necessarily indicative of all his work.  His earlier films are historical, and often dealt with the turmoil and lost identity of Taiwanese Chinese.  Currently, he is working on a contemporary film about the Taipei nightlife.  However, his use of ellipsis, long takes, and largely static camera (although, unlike Ozu, his angle varies slightly with each repeated perspective shot) are beautifully showcased in the film.

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