In our modern, highly digitalized world the sheer idea of missing out on something or being too slow has become a nightmare for many. It is hardly our fault and for that matter it is not really in our nature to advance in the pace dictated by our surroundings, but with concepts like “fast” and “speed” having become key ingredients in the fields of politics and economy, it was only a question of time, when it was our job (quite literally) to pick up the pace, and God help those who were simply too slow or were left behind. In this context, it is quite telling when a filmmaker such as Tsai Ming-liang picks someone like seventh-century monk Chen Xuanzang as one of his main inspirations for his works, but also in life. One of the works which can be traced back to this particular inspiration is the director’s...
- 2/23/2021
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
By Nicholas Poly
‘My films have been labeled “slow, boring, queer, colorless, anticlimactic, opaque…” Is it praise? Slander? What can I say?’– Excerpt from Tsai Ming-liang’s interview on Slant Magazine in 2015.
To be honest, I’ve witnessed the very same labels ‘tagged’ on works of art that refuse to be adjusted in any kind of artistic norms. Moreover, works of art which prefer to step out of this, somehow, enforced ‘political’ correctness by being skillfully evasive. Such bodies of work impose their own evolution of life-force by moving away from certain chronological timeframes and geographical zones, visual palettes, moods and environments, production or technical values.
Therefore, all I can say is that once you enter Tsai Ming-liang’s universe, this life-force is channeled through a vision of originally innovative, as much as essentially nostalgic, cinematic expression. One of these rare occasions where an artist is bound...
‘My films have been labeled “slow, boring, queer, colorless, anticlimactic, opaque…” Is it praise? Slander? What can I say?’– Excerpt from Tsai Ming-liang’s interview on Slant Magazine in 2015.
To be honest, I’ve witnessed the very same labels ‘tagged’ on works of art that refuse to be adjusted in any kind of artistic norms. Moreover, works of art which prefer to step out of this, somehow, enforced ‘political’ correctness by being skillfully evasive. Such bodies of work impose their own evolution of life-force by moving away from certain chronological timeframes and geographical zones, visual palettes, moods and environments, production or technical values.
Therefore, all I can say is that once you enter Tsai Ming-liang’s universe, this life-force is channeled through a vision of originally innovative, as much as essentially nostalgic, cinematic expression. One of these rare occasions where an artist is bound...
- 8/27/2019
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
“What is the essence of cinema?” is the question that haunts film critics and theorists for decades. In his book “What Cinema Is!”, film scholar Dudley Andrew believes that film is a conduit to bring the audience toward others’ lived experience. Following the idea that film should be an encounter with the world, Andrew argues that the film frame leads the audience to different spaces. A threshold “functions as a passage from one to the other [space].” While Andrew drew his inspiration from André Bazin’s writings, Malaysian-Taiwanese director Ming-Liang Tsai’s film “The Hole” illustrates Andrew’s thinking of film surprisingly well.
“The Hole” is a hybrid of science fiction and musical. The film is set in 1999’s Taipei and a new epidemic, “Taiwan fever”, breaks out. Those infected by the disease will start to crawl like a cockroach and there seems to be no cure for the disease.
“The Hole” is a hybrid of science fiction and musical. The film is set in 1999’s Taipei and a new epidemic, “Taiwan fever”, breaks out. Those infected by the disease will start to crawl like a cockroach and there seems to be no cure for the disease.
- 8/26/2019
- by I-Lin Liu
- AsianMoviePulse
One of the best films premiering at this year’s Venice Film Festival, I said in my review of Afternoon, “It’s always been easier to review Tsai Ming-liang’s films than to make sense of them. Characterized by an often impenetrable language of silence and immobility, the Malaysian-born, Taiwan-based filmmaker’s work triggers all kinds of intuitive response that writers crave, yet those same writers might be hard-pressed to explain what they’ve just seen on screen. In this sense, Afternoon poses the exact opposite dilemma, in that it’s by far the most verbal and straightforward project from Tsai – but how do you assess, evaluate, grade something so close to life you’re not even sure what to call it in cinematic terms?”
Featuring Tsai and his long-time actor-of-choice Kang-sheng Lee as themselves in an extended, unscripted conversation shot on static camera, Afternoon has no discernible narrative arc,...
Featuring Tsai and his long-time actor-of-choice Kang-sheng Lee as themselves in an extended, unscripted conversation shot on static camera, Afternoon has no discernible narrative arc,...
- 9/21/2015
- by Zhuo-Ning Su
- The Film Stage
Looking back at my reviews here, I can safely say that I love a good anthology film (Genius Party and Beyond, Phobia and Phobia 2, Ten Nights Of Dreams). Some people dislike them for their lack of coherence and shifts in quality, others love them for their broad range of styles and creativity. I belong to the latter group so I was quite thrilled to hear about this new anthology project coming from Taiwan. Lucky for me it didn't disappoint.
Taipei 24h is constructed around one single 24-hour day in Taipei. Eight directors joined the project, each of them handling a different time frame. While the shorts themselves are not connected in any way the film starts in the morning and ends the next day. The range of directors is quite broad though it does miss a few of the regular old-timers (namely Hou and Tsai). Not that it reflects on...
Taipei 24h is constructed around one single 24-hour day in Taipei. Eight directors joined the project, each of them handling a different time frame. While the shorts themselves are not connected in any way the film starts in the morning and ends the next day. The range of directors is quite broad though it does miss a few of the regular old-timers (namely Hou and Tsai). Not that it reflects on...
- 11/10/2010
- Screen Anarchy
French actress Laetitia Casta attends the photocall for the film 'Visage' (Face) by Tsai Ming-Lang in competition in the 62nd edition of the Cannes film festival in Cannes, France, 23 May 2009. Epa/Guillaume Horcajuelo President director of the Louvre Museum Henri Loyrette, producer Jacques Bidou, director Tsai Ming-Liang, French actress Fanny Ardent, Taiwanese actress Yi-Ching Lu, French actress Laetitia Casta, and actor Kang-Sheng Lee attend the photocall for the film 'Visage' (Face) by Tsai Ming-Lang in competition in the 62nd edition of the Cannes film festival in Cannes, France, 23 May 2009. Epa/Guillaume Horcajuelo French actress Laetitia Casta attends the photocall for the film 'Visage' (Face) by Tsai Ming-Lang in competition in the 62nd edition of the Cannes...
- 5/24/2009
- by James Wray
- Monsters and Critics
- Former Victoria’s Secret model turned actress Laetitia Casta has been cast in Ming-liang Tsai’s next picture Visages (Face). Also starring are Kang-sheng Lee (who has starred in all of the famed director’s films), Fanny Ardant (8 Femmes), and Jean-Pierre Leaud (The Pornographer). The French/Taiwanese co-production is set to start in October and run through January with a planned May release (just in time for Cannes…what a coincidence). Inspired by an offer from French officials to allow filming inside of the famed Louvre in Paris, the film is a play on the Christian myth of Salome; framed within the setup of a Chinese director (Lee) who travels to the museum to shoot a film. “The film in the film becomes a total disaster. ‘Face’ is part comedy and a film in a film in a film, reflecting on creative cinema and a tribute to the New Wave,
- 7/15/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
PARIS -- French cultural network ARTE's film production arm ARTE Cinema is heating up the Gallic film sector with new co-production Cold Souls, ARTE said Tuesday.
The first feature from director Sophie Barthes, co-produced by Memento Films Production, stars Emily Watson and Paul Giamatti in this "dreamlike reflection on the human soul," ARTE said.
The film will start shooting in February between New York and Saint Petersburg.
ARTE Cinema has also invested in Malaysian filmmaker Tsai Ming Liang's Visages (Faces), co-produced with JBA Production. The film stars Maggie Cheung and Fanny Ardant in this "film within a film story" also starring Lee Kang-Sheng and Jean-Pierre Leaud. Filming will begin in Paris in September.
The first feature from director Sophie Barthes, co-produced by Memento Films Production, stars Emily Watson and Paul Giamatti in this "dreamlike reflection on the human soul," ARTE said.
The film will start shooting in February between New York and Saint Petersburg.
ARTE Cinema has also invested in Malaysian filmmaker Tsai Ming Liang's Visages (Faces), co-produced with JBA Production. The film stars Maggie Cheung and Fanny Ardant in this "film within a film story" also starring Lee Kang-Sheng and Jean-Pierre Leaud. Filming will begin in Paris in September.
- 1/23/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Hong Kong action movies dominated the nominations for the 40th Golden Horse Awards, Taiwan's top film honors for Chinese-language films. Infernal Affairs was nominated in 12 categories, while another Hong Kong police-crime movie, PTU, received 11 nominations, the Golden Horse executive committee said Thursday. Directors Wai Keung Lau and Siu Fai Mak for Infernal Affairs and Johnnie To and Ka-fai Wai for PTU are expected to have a close battle for the awards, which are scheduled to take place Dec. 13. The four have been nominated in the best director category, and both films are in the running for best picture nods. Goodbye, Dragon Inn by Ming-liang Tsai, Taiwan's entry for a foreign-language film Oscar nomination, was chosen in five categories, while The Missing, a film by Tsai's disciple Kang-sheng Lee, took four.
- 10/31/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Californians with drenched memories of El might find this futuristic drama about the psychological perils of relentless rain very close to home. Set in Taiwan during an unrelenting downpour, this film etches some telling truths about mankind's behavior under pressure, but it ultimately proves monotonous while overstretching its thematic points. At widest, U.S. distribution might be cloistered around art houses in metropolitan areas with significant Asian-American populations.
The hole in question is a peep-sized orifice in the floor/ceiling of a run-down, big-city apartment complex. For the Man Upstairs (Kang-sheng Lee) it's in his floor and provides a window on the activities of the Woman Downstairs (Kwei-mei Yang). Both are near the breaking points, dispirited by the relentless rains and nearly crazed by the unremitting dark dreariness. In this psychologically astute narrative, both exhibit signs of weather stress: the Man chugs beer all days, bombing himself into a sullen stupor, while the Woman fussbudgets with compulsive behavior, becoming increasingly cranky.
To both director Ming-liang Tsai's credit and fault, so too do audience members react in their own way to the film's constant rain. The fact that a myriad small activities are done in real-time, making them seem distended by today's quick-cut movie dynamics, directly involves us in the quagmire of the rainstorm. As such, "The Hole" is both an abyss of boredom and a font of involving filmmaking. Indeed, the scenario itself, as crafted by screenwriters Ming-liang Tsai and Ping-ying Yang stretches its points: entomological comparisons between mankind and the bug world are constantly made, for instance, as the two protagonists admittedly do exhibit insect-like behavior in their anthill of an apartment complex.
A number of color-happy interludes interrupt the downpour as The Woman steps out in a snappy array of dance costumes, stepping out to her heart's innermost desires. These surrealistic snatches are welcome patches of relief, but like the film's thematics themselves, ultimately try to stuff too much philosophizing in the framework of this somewhat narrow "Hole".
CREDITS:
THE HOLE
An Arc Light Films, Haut et Court production
Director: Ming-liang Tsai
Screenwriters: Ming-liang Tsai, Ping-ying Yang
Director of photography: Peng-jung Liao
Production designer: Pao-lin Lee
Editor: Ju-kuan Hsiao
CAST:
The Woman Downstairs: Kwei-mei Yang
The Man Upstairs: Kang-sheng Lee
Vendor: Tien Miao
The Plumber: Hsiang-chu Tong
Running time: 95 minutes...
The hole in question is a peep-sized orifice in the floor/ceiling of a run-down, big-city apartment complex. For the Man Upstairs (Kang-sheng Lee) it's in his floor and provides a window on the activities of the Woman Downstairs (Kwei-mei Yang). Both are near the breaking points, dispirited by the relentless rains and nearly crazed by the unremitting dark dreariness. In this psychologically astute narrative, both exhibit signs of weather stress: the Man chugs beer all days, bombing himself into a sullen stupor, while the Woman fussbudgets with compulsive behavior, becoming increasingly cranky.
To both director Ming-liang Tsai's credit and fault, so too do audience members react in their own way to the film's constant rain. The fact that a myriad small activities are done in real-time, making them seem distended by today's quick-cut movie dynamics, directly involves us in the quagmire of the rainstorm. As such, "The Hole" is both an abyss of boredom and a font of involving filmmaking. Indeed, the scenario itself, as crafted by screenwriters Ming-liang Tsai and Ping-ying Yang stretches its points: entomological comparisons between mankind and the bug world are constantly made, for instance, as the two protagonists admittedly do exhibit insect-like behavior in their anthill of an apartment complex.
A number of color-happy interludes interrupt the downpour as The Woman steps out in a snappy array of dance costumes, stepping out to her heart's innermost desires. These surrealistic snatches are welcome patches of relief, but like the film's thematics themselves, ultimately try to stuff too much philosophizing in the framework of this somewhat narrow "Hole".
CREDITS:
THE HOLE
An Arc Light Films, Haut et Court production
Director: Ming-liang Tsai
Screenwriters: Ming-liang Tsai, Ping-ying Yang
Director of photography: Peng-jung Liao
Production designer: Pao-lin Lee
Editor: Ju-kuan Hsiao
CAST:
The Woman Downstairs: Kwei-mei Yang
The Man Upstairs: Kang-sheng Lee
Vendor: Tien Miao
The Plumber: Hsiang-chu Tong
Running time: 95 minutes...
- 5/18/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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