Goodbye Dragon Inn (2004)

Synopsis: The subject of cinema, of the mix of loneliness and connection that is part of being in a movie audience, is the concern of this sad, beautiful, minimalist composition by Taiwanese director Tsai... The subject of cinema, of the mix of loneliness and connection that is part of being in a movie audience, is the concern of this sad, beautiful, minimalist composition by Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-Liang (WHAT TIME IS IT THERE?). The action takes place Inside a Taipei movie theater operated by a lonely clubfooted woman (Shiyang Chi-Chen) whose slow steps echo through the empty corridors and aisles, as if measuring out the feet of celluloid that make up the film itself. When a character actually speaks, the film is half over, and his exclamation that the theater is "haunted" echoes uneasily through the rest of the film, causing one to wonder just who is a ghost and who isn't. A lonely visitor to the theater (Kiyonobu Mitamura) acts pretty real. But then there are characters who seem to come out of nowhere to sit next to him and bother him with their loud eating. The film on the theater screen is the 1966 King Hu martial arts classic, DRAGON INN, and one of that film's original actors is even in the theater, with his grandson. While not a lot seems to happen, Tsai's film is never dull thanks to the playful sense of sound and stunning cinematography. In chronicling the impermanence of life, and of film itself, this film becomes post-modern as well as beautiful, and---rare for an art film of this sort--accessible and engaging even to the casual movie lover. [More]

Starring: Lee Kang-Sheng, Chen Shiang-Chyi, Chen Chao-Jung, Lu Yi-Cheng

Starring: Lee Kang-Sheng, Chen Shiang-Chyi, Chen Chao-Jung, Lu Yi-Cheng, Yang Kuei-Mei, Miao Tien

Director: Tsai Ming-Liang

Director: Tsai Ming-Liang
Screenwriter: Tsai Ming-Liang
Studio: Wellspring

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