Now that “slow cinema” is an established subgenre of contemporary art movies, Tsai Ming-liang’s filmmaking may not seem as unique today as it did in the mid-90s, when the Taiwanese writer-director first came to international prominence with Vive L’Amour (1994) and The River (1997). The films of Lisandro Alonso, Corneliu Porumboiu, and Nuri Bilge Ceylan (to name three heavy hitters of the past decade) have familiarized audiences with a style based on long, static takes, minimal dialogue, and inexpressive performances. One crucial element distinguishing Tsai’s movies from theirs is the influence of silent comedy; Lee Kang-sheng, who’s appeared in all of Tsai’s features, registers as a Keaton-like presence, comically underreacting to everything from lost love to apocalyptic disaster. Much of the dramatic tension in Tsai’s films results from this friction between Lee’s comic stoicism and the melancholy world he inhabits.
The 49th Chicago International Film Festival
Director spotlights
Italian horror master Dario Argento presents Dracula 3D in person.
James Gray, director of We Own the Night and Two Lovers, presents The Immigrant.
Chicago native John McNaughton‘s The Harvest is the director’s first theatrical feature in over a decade.
