An absorbing, affectionate addition to the sub-genre of elegies for cinemas that are closing down or are freighted with a director's fond memories (e.g. Cinema Paradiso, The Last Picture Show etc).
The colour palate and the lingering takes are trademark Ming-Liang Tsai, though it is not quite in the same class as his other great films.
The emphasis is on melancholic, deftly humorous observation rather than full narrative, but there are still several memorable set-piece scenes.
Totally incomprehensible and required great willpower to see it through to the end. I would need a lens to find a glimmer of humour and it could only be suitable for world cinema festival buffs...
The synopsis looks extremely interesting, and was the reason for putting it on my rental list.
The film itself is an extremely weird kettle of fish, and although we are both used to slow burning films and can stick with a film that eventually builds in interest, we were forced to bale out of this one shortly after what was surely the longest urination scene in cinema history, where nothing happened apart from three guys standing at a urinal. The previous ten minutes or so (difficult to judge as it felt more like months) contained even less interest and action.
An improvement on this film would be to buy a tin of Dulux paint, brush a small panel with one coat and stare at it until it is dry.