It's difficult to know where to start. So I will start afterwards. After we watch a film, my wife and I will ask each other what we thought, and after Stray Dogs, I didn't really know where to start explaining what I thought. It's very much a film directed by an auteur. This is probably the point I state I have not seen any of Ming-liang Tsai's other films. Each scene is beautifully shot, enigmatically so - and frequently they are long scenes with no dialogue (A man stands in the rain as the traffic lights go through their cycle; you have no idea who he is.) A fortnight later, it is these scenes which linger in the mind - but if you asked me what else I had to say about the film, I wouldn't know where to start. I've seen a review since which suggested this was one of his more difficult films and I wouldn't disagree with that.
I would watch another of his films, but by the same token I haven't gone rifling through his back catalogue add the rest to his list. One a year is probably my limit.
Seeing this film and 'I Don't Want To Sleep Alone' has refreshed my interest in the possibilities of film.
The lingering takes and the sheer beauty of the camera angles make for a fascinating, addictive viewing experience. Some "slow cinema" is tough to watch, often because of the monumental length of the films, but Tsai Ming-Liang pitches everything just right. He explores the boundaries between still photography and film with effortless ease, and his storytelling powers are at their peak here.
Tsai says that this is his last full length film. I hope he changes his mind!
A film has finally beaten Bela Tarr's "Man from London" into 2nd place in the "most tedious self-indulgent "Art" film of the 21st century" awards. There is a difference between slow cinema and stopped (thus not) cinema of which director Ming-Liang Tsai seems unaware. Hopefully whoever financed this turkey has been reduced to the penury of its main protagonists.