Pretension sells...

I'm not a compete philistine, and enjoy a wide range of challenging films. Now, I'm an older American, meaning I expect some of the subtleties to be lost on me. But this was so tedious, so confusing, that I only stayed through the end as it was at a college showing for a senior audience, and I didn't want to show my obvious displeasure.

The first half of the film was really setting the stage, partly at the working place and then in a confusing apartment-rooming house. The cultural subtleties of invitations to share a dinner, and polite requests for formal names, were lost on me. Quite honesty I couldn't follow even the characters. Much time was spent on the woman's working setting, but had zero relationship to the plot of an unconsumated love affair.

Certainly this can be attributed to translation from the Hong Kong culture to the American, yet others cultures have made the transition. Perhaps the general public defines tedium, a lack of overt sexual interaction or any other strong emotion as sublime expressions of ......something.

I'm not as disappointed with the film makers as I am with the large movie going public, who don't recognize meaningless cinematic failures as they are, but consider them high art.