REBELS OF THE NEON GOD / THE RIVER

ABOUT THE FILMS:

REBELS OF THE NEON GOD, 1992, Dir. Tsai Ming-liang, 106 Min, Big World Pictures, Taiwan

In Mandarin and Hokkien with English subtitles.

Tsai Ming-liang emerged on the world cinema scene in 1992 with his groundbreaking first feature, REBELS OF THE NEON GOD. His debut already includes a handful of elements familiar to fans of subsequent work: a deceptively spare style often branded “minimalist”; actor Lee Kang-sheng as the silent and sullen Hsiao-kang; copious amounts of water, whether pouring from the sky or bubbling up from a clogged drain; and enough urban anomie to ensure that even the subtle humor in evidence is tinged with pathos. The loosely structured plot involves Hsiao-kang, a despondent cram school student, who becomes obsessed with young petty thief Ah-tze, after Ah-tze smashes the rearview mirror of a taxi driven by Hsiao-kang’s father. Hsiao-kang stalks Ah-tze and his buddy Ah-ping as they hang out in the film’s iconic arcade (featuring a telling poster of James Dean on the wall) and other locales around Taipei, and ultimately takes his revenge.

FORMAT: DCP

THE RIVER, 1997, Dir. Tsai Ming-liang, 115 Min, Leisure Time Features, Taiwan

In Mandarin with English subtitles.

Xiao-Kang shares a modern highrise apartment in Taipei with his parents, but the three of them rarely speak to each other and lead very separate lives. His mother, an elevator operator is having an unsatisfying affair. His father, now retired, visit’s the city’s gay saunas, while Xiao-Kang drifts through life without a job. Xiao – kang’s life suddenly changes when he develops a chronic neck ailment and his family seeks ways to cure it. THE RIVER is a metaphysical meditation on the anomie of modern urban life.

FORMAT: 35mm