The highlight of this entire film (which you could watch on fast forward and still 'get') was ol' Jean-Pierre sitting on the bench doing NOT A DAMN THING for what, 2 minutes? I felt like I was watching the worst Italian Neo-Realist film EVER.
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I don't think you got the point of the movie. It's not a movie where the audience is suppose to anticipate what's coming up next, but to rather look at and enjoy what is shown to us right now, at this very moment. No, it's not the same if you fast forward it, just like it won't be the same if you watched Memento in linear sequence. It's not the way it's supposed to be seen. I understand that Tsai Ming-Liang's films are not everyone's cup of tea. You don't need to like it, but accept the fact that some people love it :)
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That the film is slowly paced, has little dialogue and is rather non-confrontational (little shouting, very little violence...) allows the viewer to observe and reflect on things in (relative) peace and immersively. It reminds me of meditation. There's also some funny humour to break up the monotony.
shareI couldn't quite put my finger on WHAT it was that I liked about this film but thanks to your post I know :) It was that immersion, that space the director allows to the viewer to explore the scene (perhaps not on purpose).
shareTo be honest, I didn't like the film much; I usually enjoy slow paced films, but this one really got me bored: no music and not much really going on. I know this is one of those films where you have to imagine a little and all that, but this one made me feel like I was wasting time. I did think the stories were a bit interesting, but I really thought they could have been told better. If the movie had a little more dialogue, or spent less than a minute to watch a guy piss in a bag and more on other things, then it would have been better for me. To be honest, I think what really killed it for me was no music; I thought it would have been nice to have something to listen to while watching. The visuals were nice though; nice colors and interesting camera angles, but it wasn't enough for me to like it.
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Just got done watching it and this is the 1st movie I've seen by this director. I liked it but not as much as some other movies I've seen but I liked it nonetheless. At first I thought yeah music would of been nice but I think, the music would of kind of distracted since there is really not a lot of dialogue it would of sort of masked it rather then enhance it, that's probably what the director though and I guess I see that too but it then again with the right amount of music just a little it could of been "better".
VERY slow moving movie as mentioned in the other thread, you'd have to related or have patience to watch this.
i didn't put down the remote once throughout watching this movie.
meaning i really did fast-forward my way through it still with the intent of 'watching' it. this was probably one of the slowest-paced movies i've ever sat through. as ernie mentioned, watching a guy piss in a bag for 2 minutes is a little excessive. too many scenes were dragged on and on while they lacked substance from the start. there wasn't really a plot, just an idea. and after it was over, i had difficulty choosing a real theme for it. i think it just conveyed a sense of loneliness without really commenting on it.
that said, i did like the atmosphere of the movie to some extent. but maybe if there was some atmospheric music as a soundtrack to complement that, i wouldn't have had to fast-forward my way through it.
This is the second Tsai film I have seen in the last few days and it is obvious his films are an acquired taste. I think he is a courageous director with the risks he takes by filling his films with such sparse narrative. In my opinion he fails with Goodbye, Dragon Inn which I felt was relatively mediocre but it pays off to some extent here. This is an offbeat sometime quirky film which has something appealing about it. The old man in the last scene wasn't it the boy's father?
sharei hate movies which you need to look up on internet to find some appreciation for it. there were movies which i didn't understand quite, then started digging up explanations and upon rewatching it i really started enjoying them or loving them. but there is just no way i would watch this one again.. it was painful.
to me a movie has to be enjoyable, even if you don't really get it at first. here the one thing i enjoyed is camera work, it is beatiful, very unusual, angles, details etc. and the humor bordering with absurdity.
afterwards, i just wanted to make some sense out of it, except the obvious one being loneliness. finding some deeper meaning would make those two hours less pointless.
i sort of found a really really good interpretation among user comments (one i would have never come up with), which puts the film in a different perspective. that the girl is actually dead and that paris is sort of an afterlife. all the attempts of contacting the living fail. she's lost her plane ticket, stuck and can't go back. the appearance of the dad in the end somehow points to it.
still, i prefer the movie delivering the message on its own..
as with everything, this is just my impression of it and i envy those who have managed to like it.
vote history http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=42632824
I watched this whole movies fastforwarded. I can't say I like it tho', but I dont dislike it either.
Personally I think it is a time waster, I can watch this in FF and still understanding what is going on. I can't imagine ppl watching this in normal run time.