Tsai Ming-liang

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dda1996a
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2015 6:14 am

Re: Tsai Ming-liang

#101 Post by dda1996a » Thu Oct 04, 2018 7:08 am

Anyone has a clue regarding Tsai's Afternoon, Your Face and his rarely seen Walker shorts? I'm currently going through his filmography and it would be nice to know where I can find those movies (even back channels didn't help in the search).

Also, I haven't seen Stray Dogs yet, but having read about it, and having just seen Tsai's early TV work Give Me a Home, it seems rather circuitous to see him end his narrative cinena close to where he started (its also a pretty good hiur long movie, DV quality and all)

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: Tsai Ming-liang

#102 Post by zedz » Thu Oct 04, 2018 6:23 pm

dda1996a wrote:
Thu Oct 04, 2018 7:08 am
Anyone has a clue regarding Tsai's Afternoon, Your Face and his rarely seen Walker shorts? I'm currently going through his filmography and it would be nice to know where I can find those movies (even back channels didn't help in the search).

Also, I haven't seen Stray Dogs yet, but having read about it, and having just seen Tsai's early TV work Give Me a Home, it seems rather circuitous to see him end his narrative cinena close to where he started (its also a pretty good hiur long movie, DV quality and all)
Walker can be seen here.

Journey to the West is on the US BluRay of Stray Dogs.

No No Sleep (which I love) can be seen here.

Somebody really ought to gather all these together in one place.

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dda1996a
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Re: Tsai Ming-liang

#103 Post by dda1996a » Fri Oct 05, 2018 1:08 am

You see, there are appereantly a lot more that were released. I saw those three, was looking for the others.
Still, anyone knows anything regarding Afternoon? Its been almost four years since it came out.

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knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: Tsai Ming-liang

#104 Post by knives » Tue Mar 31, 2020 5:46 pm

Just watch Vive L'amour which put me in a desperate mood for more Tsai. It's such a touching and funny movie (Tsai really loves watermelons as a masturbation tool) which weirdly reminded me of Taipei Story. Not just in terms of the obvious narrative similarities, but the way that some of the themes were expressed were awfully similar as well.

Anyway, getting back to why I'm posting does anyone know of a legal place where some of his more recent efforts can be had (speaking of the first post probably should be updated)? I'd particularly love to see Diamond Sutra, Visage, Afternoon, and No Form. I'd definitely pay big money to whomever would put out a complete Walker boxset.

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zedz
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Re: Tsai Ming-liang

#105 Post by zedz » Tue Mar 31, 2020 8:14 pm

Visage had a French release with English subs, but that may be OOP by now.

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dda1996a
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Re: Tsai Ming-liang

#106 Post by dda1996a » Wed Apr 01, 2020 2:57 am

Sadly even on back channels I couldn't find more than the three most known Walker films...(the feature films though are possible), but I don't think Afternoon or Your Face received any kind of release

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senseabove
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2015 3:07 am

Re: Tsai Ming-liang

#107 Post by senseabove » Wed Apr 15, 2020 2:57 am

Is there any hope for a US/UK release of Tsai's first three à la the Taiwanese box or are the rights just going to make that impossible for the foreseeable future? I've been tempted to import, and held off in hope that Arrow or someone would release a version of it, but I'm getting impatient...

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knives
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Re: Tsai Ming-liang

#108 Post by knives » Thu Apr 16, 2020 9:15 pm

They're owned by different people in the US.

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knives
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Re: Tsai Ming-liang

#109 Post by knives » Tue Apr 21, 2020 7:29 pm

Does the original language title for Rebels of the Neon God contain the same ambiguity of if 'rebels' is a noun or a verb that it has in English (this of course supposing that the English title is a direct translation).

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The Fanciful Norwegian
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Re: Tsai Ming-liang

#110 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Tue Apr 21, 2020 8:41 pm

The Chinese title is "Teenaged Nezha," nothing to do with the English (unless Nezha is the neon god, I suppose).

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knives
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Re: Tsai Ming-liang

#111 Post by knives » Tue Apr 21, 2020 9:10 pm

Thank you (I think Nezha is supposed to be the neon god or at least that's how the subs treat it).

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zedz
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Re: Tsai Ming-liang

#112 Post by zedz » Tue Apr 21, 2020 9:24 pm

knives wrote:Does the original language title for Rebels of the Neon God contain the same ambiguity of if 'rebels' is a noun or a verb that it has in English (this of course supposing that the English title is a direct translation).
I don’t understand what you mean. There’s no ambiguity in the English title: “rebels” can’t be read as a verb in that context, can it? You can rebel from something, but not of something.

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knives
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Re: Tsai Ming-liang

#113 Post by knives » Tue Apr 21, 2020 9:39 pm

Rebels as in acts of rebellion. I used the wrong word be accident and should have said noun as person and noun from verb.

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senseabove
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Re: Tsai Ming-liang

#114 Post by senseabove » Wed Apr 22, 2020 7:52 pm

So having just watched The River last night... should I try to watch the rest of Tsai's features in chronological order? Is that kind of implicit, disorienting non-sequelness a regular occurrence?

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knives
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Re: Tsai Ming-liang

#115 Post by knives » Wed Apr 22, 2020 7:59 pm

Yes. In the films from Rebels until at least Visage or maybe Stray Dogs Lee Kang Sheng plays variations of the same character. They're not typical sequels to one another, but his characters share the same name and the history of what we've seen previously helps to inform what the current variation is like. I was thinking of him recently as a sort of Buster Keaton figure to give a sense of what I mean. That said I watched the films initially fairly out of order so while suggested a chronological view is not necessary.

mteller
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Re: Tsai Ming-liang

#116 Post by mteller » Thu Apr 23, 2020 12:05 pm

The only films that are strictly "sequels" in that Lee is unambiguously playing the same character are What Time Is It There? -> The Skywalk Is Gone -> The Wayward Cloud. I would recommend watching those in order.

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dda1996a
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Re: Tsai Ming-liang

#117 Post by dda1996a » Thu Apr 23, 2020 6:03 pm

mteller wrote:
Thu Apr 23, 2020 12:05 pm
The only films that are strictly "sequels" in that Lee is unambiguously playing the same character are What Time Is It There? -> The Skywalk Is Gone -> The Wayward Cloud. I would recommend watching those in order.
Yes, but the family is also the same family in Rebels, The River, the three you mentioned, and Visage. While the rest share Lee but they aren't exactly the same characters per as, as Vive Lamour, The Hole, Goodbye Dragon Inn and I Don't Want to Sleep Alone are not related to the main series. In a way it kind of feels like the Doinel films and how Leaud also played parts in other Truffaut films (which is no doubt an influence given both What Time? and Visage)

Having seen his films in order, I'd highly recommend doing so. Technically you could watch the films I listed in order and the rest out, but watching his films from the first and finishing with Stray Dogs (and now Days) really leaves in a unique place, seeing how Stray Dogs is probably his most bleak (along with Wayward Cloud) and was a fitting end to his career that tied all of his themes and imagery in a brilliant way. You really feel the world getting darker the more you push on through his filmography if going that way

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knives
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Re: Tsai Ming-liang

#118 Post by knives » Thu Apr 23, 2020 6:22 pm

There also remains a lot of lightness as well Thai is a capital comedic director.

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swo17
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Re: Tsai Ming-liang

#119 Post by swo17 » Thu Apr 23, 2020 6:25 pm

You shouldn't say capital! (Sorry, I just watched Little Women)

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senseabove
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Re: Tsai Ming-liang

#120 Post by senseabove » Thu Apr 23, 2020 7:17 pm

Thanks for the guidance, folks. I'll probably watch I Don't Want to Sleep Alone before it disappears from the CC in a week, but I expect I'll try to do the rest chronologically since I'll have to get them via back-channels anyway.
dda1996a wrote:
Thu Apr 23, 2020 6:03 pm
Yes, but the family is also the same family in Rebels, The River, the three you mentioned, and Visage. While the rest share Lee but they aren't exactly the same characters per as, as Vive Lamour, The Hole, Goodbye Dragon Inn and I Don't Want to Sleep Alone are not related to the main series. In a way it kind of feels like the Doinel films and how Leaud also played parts in other Truffaut films (which is no doubt an influence given both What Time? and Visage)

Having seen his films in order, I'd highly recommend doing so. Technically you could watch the films I listed in order and the rest out, but watching his films from the first and finishing with Stray Dogs (and now Days) really leaves in a unique place, seeing how Stray Dogs is probably his most bleak (along with Wayward Cloud) and was a fitting end to his career that tied all of his themes and imagery in a brilliant way. You really feel the world getting darker the more you push on through his filmography if going that way
Yeah, this is why I asked... It feels significant but not crucial that Hsiao-Keng shares a name in Rebels and Vive, but whether or not it is, ultimately, relevant, the appearance of relevance feels like a functional and crucial part of watching The River. I can't imagine having seen it without having seen Rebels.

Also, having seen Stray Dogs and The River, I found the latter bleaker. If its society is further fucked, there's at least some human affection in Stray Dogs, whereas The River is almost as excruciating as, say, A Woman Under the Influence, in its grinding hopelessness coupled with bodily discomfort.
knives wrote:
Thu Apr 23, 2020 6:22 pm
There also remains a lot of lightness as well Thai is a capital comedic director.
I can't wait for more of this side...
SpoilerShow
The slow revelation that Vive is a screwball, just ruminating endlessly on those emotions that are typically played at lightning speed to pack in the laughs, is my favorite "Oh shit wait!" of recent viewings.

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knives
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Re: Tsai Ming-liang

#121 Post by knives » Thu Apr 23, 2020 7:31 pm

Rebels and Vive are also streaming on Kanopy if you need another source.

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dda1996a
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Re: Tsai Ming-liang

#122 Post by dda1996a » Fri Apr 24, 2020 3:09 am

Vive doesn't feel as related to the others but his character could be argued is the same in the other "series" films, as he finds his sexual identity in Vive (which gets sort of turned around it River).
I Don't Want to Sleep Alone is the only Tsai I don't care much for - it lacks the comedic and heartbreaking emotional connection of the other films, with the exception of (by now regular) beautiful of an ending. But I see you already saw some Tsai so you won't get turned off if you don't connect with it.

Stray Dogs is bleaker for me mostly because of different aspects: because they barely have a house and are poor, the overwhelming amount of rain (even for a Tsai film), the ending. It also felt like there was no where else Tsai could go forward, and I wasn surprised that he retired after it. The River also has a bleak ending, but you could still see a future for these characters. There was barely anywhere left to go after Wayward, and Visage neatly tied everything that came before, so Stray Dogs really felt like a proper ending for the Tsai universe.

Also I remembered yesterday that Visage does require you to watch I Don't Want to Sleep Alone + all the other films as it references all the Tsai films he made before + some Truffaut as well


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ianthemovie
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Re: Tsai Ming-liang

#124 Post by ianthemovie » Thu Aug 27, 2020 11:07 am

I keep seeing press releases about the upcoming theatrical re-release of The Hole. Does anyone know whether this could be coming to Blu-ray later? I can't tell whether or not it's a new restoration though it is being touted as a "director's cut" (it's the same length that was on the previous DVD, though).

The movie makes for great quarantine viewing, by the way.

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The Fanciful Norwegian
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Re: Tsai Ming-liang

#125 Post by The Fanciful Norwegian » Thu Aug 27, 2020 12:03 pm

The distributor (Big World Pictures) doesn't usually do Blu-rays and their Rebels of the Neon God release was DVD-only, but they have put out at least one BD (for Radu Jude's Aferim!), so fingers crossed they make another exception here.

As for the "director's cut" billing, the film was broadcast on TV under the title La dernière danse as part of an Arte series depicting the year 2000 as imagined by different filmmakers (other contributions included Don McKellar's Last Night and Hal Hartley's The Book of Life). That version was reduced to 70 minutes compared to the 95 of Tsai's preferred edit, which I assume also reflects Tsai's preferred title. So most likely this isn't a new director's cut, just the familiar one that played at Cannes in '98 and was eventually distributed to theaters and home video. In fact I don't think the TV cut was available anywhere outside of its airing on Arte.

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