Goodbye, Dragon Inn
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Film description
Tsai Ming-liang invites us to the last screening at a cult Taipei cinema that was once filled with life, but is now forgotten even by the local tramps. On a dark, rainy night, the theater returns to its former glory one last time. It closes its doors with a screening of a Taiwanese 1960s classic, King Hu's "Dragon Inn." The screening is made even more unique by the presence of actors starring in the masterpiece – they are watching the film with profound sadness, as if writing their own testaments. Memories of on and off-screen characters, frozen in time, resurface as the viewers begin to wander among the seats and through empty halls of the building.
"Goodbye, Dragon Inn" transforms the space of a theater into a labyrinth of sounds, images, experiences, and memory. In Tsai Ming-liang's vision, the cinema is not only the vehicle of nostalgia, but also an instrument of exorcism, opening up the timeless reflection on the condition of the medium. "Goodbye, Dragon Inn" is the most beautiful love letter to cinema ever made. Watching it from a restored 4K copy decades after its creation makes the experience of the director's characteristic poetics of inevitable passing even more powerful.
text:
Łukasz Mańkowski
Tsai Ming Liang
Born in Malaysia. Director, creator of film installations, one of the key members of Taiwan cinema's Second New Wave. He studied at the Chinese Culture University of Taiwan in Taipei. Since 1982, has been working in the theater as a producer, playwright, and director, and writing film and TV scripts. He made his debut in 1992 with "Rebels of the Neon God." Currently he focuses mainly on short experimental forms shown in galleries across the world.
2020 Dni / Days
2014 Wędrówka na Zachód/ Jpurney to The West
2013 Bezpańskie psy / Stray Dogs
2009 Twarz / Face / Visages
2006 Nie chcę spać sam / I Don't Want to Sleep Alone / Hei yan quan
2005 Kapryśna chmura / The Wayward Cloud / Tian bian yi duo yun
2003 Goodbye, Dragon Inn / Bu san
1998 Dziura / The Hole / Dong
1997 Rzeka / The River / He liu
1992 Buntownicy neonowego Boga / Rebels of the Neon God / Qīngshàonián Nézhā
