On a dark, rainy night, a historic and regal Taipei cinema sees its final film: 1967 martial arts feature "Dragon Inn". As the film plays, the lives of the theater's various employees and patrons intersect, and two ghostly actors arrive to mourn the passing of an era.
Tsai is hugely popular with film critics, I believe, in part because film critics actually have something to do while watching his films. While the girl is limping down the hallway, we can take notes. Regular theatergoers? They can only watch helplessly.
– Erik Lundegaard,
Seattle Times,
15 Oct 2004
fresh:
This is one of the most gorgeous and maturely composed movies you'll see this year.
– Wesley Morris,
Boston Globe,
29 Oct 2004
fresh:
Idiosyncratic, oddball movie that is both funny and moody.
– G. Allen Johnson,
San Francisco Chronicle,
17 Dec 2004
fresh:
A weird, funny, melancholy tribute to movies and movie-going, an opus for film geeks that rang my personal bell.
– Michael Wilmington,
Chicago Tribune,
6 Jan 2005
fresh:
This elegiac 2003 comedy, by the Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang, is a requiem for a movie theatre.