Lee Kang-Sheng

Defying by his parents, Hsiao Kang drops out of the local crammer to head for the bright lights of downtown Taipei. He falls in with Ah Tze, a pretty hood and their relationships is a confused mixture of hero-worship and rivalry that soon leads to trouble.

Tsai Ming-liang's sophomore feature follows three lonely souls sharing a Taipei apartment. Realtor May Lin brings her lover Ah-jung to the vacant unit, unaware that it is secretly occupied by suicidal funeral salesman Hsiao-kang. They each cross paths in a series of precisely staged, tragicomic encounters but, despite their physical proximity, find themselves no closer to a personal connection.

In Tsai Ming-liang’s minimalist film, the Fu-Ho Grand, a movie palace in Taipei, is closing its doors. Its valedictory screening, King Hu’s 1967 wuxia epic “Dragon Inn”, plays to a motley smattering of spectators, including two stars of Hu’s original opus, Miao Tien and Shih Chun, who watch their younger selves with tears in their eyes.

The great Taiwanese filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang has been directing exquisite examinations of alienation, isolation, and the fleeting beauty of human connection featuring his muse Lee Kang-sheng for decades. Days will undoubtedly stand as one of his best and most intimate works. It is a work of longing, constructed with the director's customary brilliance at visual composition.

WINNER OF THE GRAND JURY PRIZE AT THE VENICE FILM FESTIVAL, the new film from master filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang (Rebels of a Neon God, What Time Is It There) is a haunting vision of a father and his two young children struggling to survive on the streets of Taipei. When a mysterious woman shows up to care for the kids, the father starts to come apart. Exquisitely photographed in dark neon-lit tones, STRAY DOGS is a bold, nightmarish depiction of a society on the brink.

Ah Jie lost everything in the stock market due to a severe economic crisis. He spends his days in his sealed apartment, smoking joints and looking after the marijuana plants that he secretly grows in his wardrobe. In desperation, he calls a suicide helpline and gets to know Chyi, whose sweet and gentle voice causes him to fall in love with his fantasized image of her. He tries to ask her out but is repeatedly rejected. He begins projecting his fantasy of Chyi on Shin, the new girl working at the betel nut stall downstairs. Shin is always sexily dressed in order to lure male customers. Ah Jie becomes closer to her and soon the two of them sink into a world of erotic and psychedelic pleasures. At the same time, Ah Jie begins to stalk Chyi.

After the unexplained disappearance of their baby daughter, a young couple receives strange videos and realizes someone has been filming their daily life, even in their most intimate moments. The police set up surveillance to arrest the voyeur they suspect of the kidnapping. But the family starts to crumble as secrets unveil under the scrutiny of eyes watching them from all sides.

After a purification ritual unravels, a conflicted Taoist priest attempts to help a lonely young psychic whose aunt is possessed by a powerful demon.