Goodbye, Dragon Inn

Tsai Ming-Liang

Special Sessions Taiwan 82 min Fiction

Synopsis

The last projection before an old movie theater shuts its doors forever. A young Japanese man runs into the theater for refuge from the pouring rain. The theater appears empty, void of life, yet there are other presences than just the few spectators… The crippled female ticket clerk and the young projectionist have never been able to meet, even though they both work in the same theater, day after day. Since tonight is her last chance,  the pretty clerk wants to share her peach-shaped fortune cake with the handsome projectionist. But when she stops by the projection room, he is still not there. She refuses to leave the theater without one last look at him. She searches for him through the labyrinth-like passageways of the old movie house…

Themes

ArtAsian CinemaDramaSocial Issues

Filmmaker

Tsai Ming-Liang

He is one of the greatest exponents of the “Second Wave” of Taiwanese cinema, with an extensive, radical and unforgettable filmography that contains such celebrated films as Goodbye, Dragon InnThe Wayward Cloud or I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone. With Vive l’amour he won the Golden Lion in Venice, with The River he won the Special Jury Prize in Berlin and with Stray Dogs, again in Venice, he won the Grand Jury Prize.

Filmography: The Night (short, 2021, D'A 2022), The Moon and the Tree (short, 2021, D'A 2022), Rizi (Days) (2020, D'A 2021), Your Face (2018, D'A 2019), Afternoon (2015), Autumn Days (short, 2015, D'A 2022), Journey to the West (2014), Stray Dogs (2013, D’A 2014), Visage (2009), No quiero dormir solo (2006), El sabor de la sandía (2005), Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003, D'A 2021), The Skywalk Is Gone (short, 2002, D'A 2022), ¿Qué hora es? (2001), The Hole (1998), El río (1997), Viva el amor (2004), Rebeldes del dios Neón (1992)

Tsai Ming-Liang

Film information

Original Title: Bu san
Director: Tsai Ming-Liang
Script: Tsai Ming-Liang
Contact: Vitrine Filmes
With: Lee Kang-sheng, Shiang-chyi Chen, Kiyonobu Mitamura
Country: Taiwan
Year: 2003
Format: DCP
Length: 82 min
Language: Mandarin
Subtitles: Spanish
Edition: 2021

Awards

VENICE FILM FESTIVAL
FIPRESCI Award

CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Best Film

Poster

Goodbye, Dragon Inn