Duan Chun-hao

Hou Hsiao-hsien's stylish and seductive submersion into Taipei nightlife stars Shu Qi as an aimless bar hostess drifting away from her blowhard boyfriend and towards Jack Kao's suave, sensitive gangster. Structured as a flashback from the then-future of 2011, it's a transfixing trance-out of a movie, techno-scored and neon-lit with an undercurrent of turn-of-the-millennium ennui.

A noir-tinged story about a solitary man haunted by loss and regret. From director Bi Gan, the film was China's biggest arthouse hit of all time.