I travelled to Berlin only to see this. Tsai Ming-liang’s cinema has given so much to me that I thought it only fair to give something back. I was pressed by the desire to finally, for the first time, see one of his films on the big screen, and motivated by the confidence that none of his previous works had disappointed me. I was not expecting disappointment, but I was also not expecting this.

Funnily enough, despite the fact that Tsai is my favourite director, I don’t think that I have ever cried during one of his films. They often touched upon my deepest emotions, but never pressured me to externalise them. They always inspired self-reflection, but never to the…

Truly an unexpectedly cathartic and almost transcendent experience. 
日子, the original title, literally translates into “days”, but its deeper meaning is much more unfathomable. it’s life, or the day-to-day routine that comes with as many hardships and challenges as joys. There’s something monotonous in the word itself, and it’s the monotony and repetitiveness that tsai ming-liang channels so beautifully in days. 

The static opening scene, shot through a window and showing one of the main characters sitting in a chair while being surrounded by rain, lasts multiple minutes and is the first of many equally long, motionless and reflective shots. shots that, due to their length and quiescence, force us to take in every detail and reflect on whatever is on screen,…

the first hour really feels less like a film & more like you’re watching this stream where you can click different images, and watch what is unfolding in that corner of the world, in a certain room or on a certain street. but slowly, things take shape and you see patterns, and you grow to understand these people you’re watching.

one is always being cared for, and there is a stillness to everything he does. you get a feeling that he is trying to heal a pain that most likely exists internally. the other is in motion, and is grounded in his routines. he prepares a meal so meticulously, but by habit, and you wonder if he is putting this much…

"This film is intentionally unsubtitled."

So begins Days, the new film from Tsai Ming-liang, and a strictly vibes only experience. After being very personally disappointed with the director's acclaimed feature Rebels of the Neon God, I think I finally "get" him, and it took our current coronavirus predicament for that to happen. Get ready for this review to slide into the realm of pretension. Have you ever come across a movie where you think in other situations you may not have liked it, but it arrived to you at the proper time, so it connected with you how it needed to in that right moment? Very specific question, I know, but that's how I currently feel about Days after having…

Having revisited Chaplin's Limelight a few days ago, I was intrigued to hear that film's theme music in Tsai Ming-liang's latest - from a music box that Kang (Lee Kang-sheng) gives to his masseur, Non (Anong Houngheuangsy). I can see why Tsai feels kinship with Limelight - another example of a filmmaker stripping his style to the bone, and a film that depicts human connection as a fragile, transient thing that can offer at least temporary relief from the despair of life.

Of course Tsai, unlike Chaplin, doesn't go for heavy music and broad acting (this one is minimal even for him), but this film does stir very deep emotions. The problem with most art/culture industries (in North America, at…

Taiwanese auteur Tsai Ming-Liang has crafted a sublimely meditative film with Days, the 11th film from the immersive Goodbye, Dragon Inn director. Its sequences are shimmering with moments of daily life which enigmatically convene to form a collective narrative. The film simultaneously follows two lonely middle-aged men through minimalist long takes named Kang (Lee Kang-sheng) and Non (Anong Houngheuangsy).

The film's inaugurating shot featuring Kang gazing out of the window silently during a rainstorm for a pacesetting five minutes establishes the tone for everything that follows; during which time, the men eventually come together then part company. While there are minimal formal narrative events; the stillness of the static camera, presented in long takes of medium and long shots, conveys…

Um breve comentário que parece pertinente no caso deste filme: tentei, por várias vezes, encontrar as palavras certas para começar um texto sobre o novo trabalho de Tsai Ming-liang. Travei em todas elas. E resolvi fazer o que todo mundo faz hoje em dia, reclamar (de mim mesmo) nas redes sociais. Minha frase foi a seguinte: “às vezes um filme mexe tanto com você que te rouba as palavras“. Depois, refletindo sobre o assunto, percebi que minha confissão era a maneira mais legítima para que eu começasse um texto sobre este filme.

Os letreiros iniciais, antes das primeiras imagens, avisam que “Dias” não será apresentado com legendas. Faz sentido porque o filme de Tsai, o primeiro longa de ficção do diretor…

La depuración estética y narrativa de Tsai Ming-liang es de una sensibilidad arrolladora. Rizi, el esperado retorno del director chino-malayo al cine de ficción no podría haber sido de otra forma.

Filmado a través de una ventana, el plano de apertura presenta a uno de los dos personajes de la cinta sentado en una silla mientras contempla el más allá de la lluvia. Las gotas de agua golpean contra el cristal de esta ventana, de manera que se reflejan en el rostro del personaje. La temporalidad muerta nos invita a vivir dentro del plano y a fijarnos en los sonidos diegéticos. A continuación, un segundo plano presenta a Lee Kang-Sheng, álter ego del cineasta. Se encuentra en un baño público,…

Ensayo sobre el cuerpo masculino y el aislamiento de lo urbano.

Una película para bañarse en ella. Tsai Ming-liang es fiel a su inconfundible estilo de contemplación de lo mínimo, y el espectador debe tomar conciencia de ello y sumergirse en su depurada y bellísima estrategia visual. Su respeto por la narración es notabilísimo, jamás construyéndola a la espera de que acontezca algo que cambie radicalmente el rumbo del relato.
Es cine de un visionario, de un maestro del tono, de los más significativos de la Posmodernidad. Cabe destacar también la importancia del sonido diegético, que por momentos parece que espolee a las imágenes para que se sucedan.
Con Rizi el séptimo arte parece haber regresado a sus albores, haciendo…