Stray Dogs
Description
Master filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang’s work often reveals an affinity for the natural world and its elements, especially rain and water. And in Stray Dogs the cold of the wind and the driving rain provide a fitting backdrop for Tsai’s tenth feature in which an impoverished family consisting of a father and two children (and two shifting maternal figures) try to survive in modern day Taipei. Loneliness and sadness permeate the tableaux in what is an incredibly tactile work with surfaces, especially those of walls, taking on a sharp tangibility. One such surface–the rock-strewn floor of an abandoned building and the mural it lies before–gives off the otherworldly feel of a lunar plain. Tsai’s camera is patient and watchful, peppering the film with extreme long-takes. The daunting duration of these scenes simultaneously coax and frustrate the viewers’ attention as our eyes scan the frame upon which the minutes unfurl while the characters’ actions and faces slowly build to and sustain moments of desperate emotion. In the end, these long shots become mesmeric in their revelation of pulsating sadness and despair and longing in this bold and often mysterious work. –Veronika Ferdman
Beginning with his debut feature, Rebels of the Neon God (SFIFF 1993), Tsai Ming—liang established his great themes as solitude and alienation, subsequently returning to them again and again in later pictures. Since that time Tsai has become one of the most critically acclaimed and respected directors in the world with Vive L’Amour (SFIFF 1995) winning the coveted Golden Lion at Venice and his films becoming familiar mainstays at festivals.
Trailer
//player.vimeo.com/video/90584877?autoplay=1Film Details
Language Mandarin
Original Language Title Jiao you
Year 2013
Runtime 138
Country Taiwan/France
Director Tsai Ming-liang
Producer Jacques Bidou, Marianne Dumoulin, Vincent Wang
Writer Song Peng Fei, Tsai Ming-liang, Tung Chen Yu
Editor Lei Chen Ching
Cinematographer Liao Pen-jung, Sung Wen Zhong
Cast Lee Kang-sheng, Lee Yi-cheng, Lee Yi-chieh
Print Source The Cinema Guild/ gswindoll@cinemaguild.com