Tsai Ming-liang

[zedz]

To be perfectly pedantic, aren't all three of his nipples superfluous?

[Adam X]

Depends on how you use them.

[therewillbeblus]

There also remains a lot of lightness as well Thai is a capital comedic director.

I can't wait for more of this side...

SpoilerShow

The slow revelation that Vive is a screwball, just ruminating endlessly on those emotions that are typically played at lightning speed to pack in the laughs, is my favorite "Oh shit wait!" of recent viewings.

Finally got to Vive l'amour yesterday, and it's the first Tsai film I've really loved. senseabove, your revelation is an excellent reading and one I shared, though what affected me most is Tsai's alien ability to utilize these comic beats and transfigured skeletons of comedy to undercover the tragic impotence for human beings to engage with, or even comprehend decaying systems that erode intimacy; to contend with inertia in the face of overwhelmingly enigmatic yet tangible triggers for ennui. The comedy may be genuine in that to some extend these kinds of detached social humor exist in the naturalistic absurd of our world, but it's also facile, as Tsai seems to be demonstrating that even within an artificial formula like a screwball comedy, the mechanics of social desperations and heightened emotions isolated from others' are truly realistic and sad when slowed.

[therewillbeblus]

Now I just wish someone would release an edition of What Time Is It There? with video sufficient enough that it doesn't completely obscure one of the films great visual jokes (thanks Fox Lorber).

I'm on a Tsai roll (really enjoyed this film as well!) but what visual joke did I miss on this shoddy DVD?

[Adam X]

It may’ve been that I only had a relatively small CRT TV when I had that DVD, but

SpoilerShow

when Hsiao-kang encounters the guy in the toilet cubicle holding the mising clock in front of his crotch, one of the clock’s hands is twitching back and forth.

Something that I remember couldn’t be distinguished on the Fox Lorber disc.

[therewillbeblus]

I definitely didn't notice that, but that's a great little gag- thanks for responding!

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

This was apparently done last year but slipped under the radar: the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute has carried out a digital restoration of The Wayward Cloud. AFAIK the U.S. rights are currently not spoken for (Strand doesn't have it anymore) so hopefully this will get a release from someone.

[hearthesilence]

MoMA's screening The River in a DCP that's labelled as a "digital restoration." I checked online and saw that the film was included in a 2015 Blu-ray box set of Tsai's work, complete with English subtitles, but it's now OOP. Just to confirm, was The River the only title from the box set NOT to be spun off as a standalone Blu-ray release? Also, does anyone know if that 2015 release used the same digital restoration that's probably on the DCP?

Regardless, hope it's made available again on an English-friendly Blu-ray.

EDIT: Saw the post two pages back that says it may still be available, but after further research on another forum, it is indeed OOP everywhere. ARGH.

[L.A.]

^ Hopefully you can find a copy, that set is gorgeous.

[hearthesilence]

Are there any reference pics online, like at least of the hubs? There are sets being sold online but I'm not sure if they're counterfeits. (They also go for a lot - what was the retail price before?)

[ianthemovie]

If you're referring to the 3-disc set that has The River, Vive L'amour, and Rebels of the Neon God, I seem to recall paying around $100 from YesAsia for mine, including shipping.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

I think the retail price was around 2,000 NTD, or a bit over US$60 at the current rate. It can still be ordered from Eslite, but for some reason they won't ship it outside of Taiwan—my guess is because it's no longer stocked in their warehouse and the only copies they have are those still on the shelves in a handful of their physical locations. There are Taiwanese shopping agents (i.e. middlemen who will order the item for you and then forward it to your non-Taiwanese address) that could help in a case like this, but I'm afraid I have no experience with them.

[hearthesilence]

I think the retail price was around 2,000 NTD, or a bit over US$60 at the current rate. It can still be ordered from Eslite, but for some reason they won't ship it outside of Taiwan—my guess is because it's no longer stocked in their warehouse and the only copies they have are those still on the shelves in a handful of their physical locations. There are Taiwanese shopping agents (i.e. middlemen who will order the item for you and then forward it to your non-Taiwanese address) that could help in a case like this, but I'm afraid I have no experience with them.

Thanks for the tip! I actually know someone who has family in Taiwan, and they're going to make a trip there before the end of the year, so they're doing me a favor and placing this order for me. So hopefully I'll have this by Christmas, we'll see.

[hearthesilence]

FWIW, I just got an update on my order - I'm not sure if something's been lost in the translation (or perhaps misinterpreted through the chain of communication) but I've been told that it was delivered to a local convenience store (like a 7-Eleven?) and that it had to be picked up and maybe paid for there. Maybe convenience stores are actually the location where they stock these? Anyway, I take it as a welcome sign that the order went through.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

They're not stocked there, but pickup at a 7-Eleven or FamilyMart is a ubiquitous delivery method in Taiwan, and in some cases the only shipping option available. The products and services available at convenience stores there are kinda mind-blowing (it's similar in Japan and Hong Kong).

[hearthesilence]

They're not stocked there, but pickup at a 7-Eleven or FamilyMart is a ubiquitous delivery method in Taiwan, and in some cases the only shipping option available. The products and services available at convenience stores there are kinda mind-blowing (it's similar in Japan and Hong Kong).

Thanks Fanciful Norwegian. I'm guessing rather than relying on a shipping service, the method basically hops on to the goods distribution already in place for convenience stores.

[hearthesilence]

Just out of curiousity, does anyone here ever find themselves hunting down a short film online, only to belatedly discover it's on a Blu-ray they own as a bonus feature? I feel like that's happened several times with me and it happened again with one of Tsai's shorts. It's always a nice surprise (and even a relief) when I find out I already have a short film in my library in great quality, but it kind of emphasizes why I prefer to have short films in their own collection which would be much less likely to be forgotten.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

The Tokyo FILMeX festival held a three-film mini-retro of Tsai's work and Visage was shown in 4K. Maybe I overlooked a screening elsewhere, but this is the first I've heard of a remaster/restoration for this one. The other two were The Wayward Cloud (shown in 35mm per Tsai's preference) and What Time Is It There? (format undetermined, but I suspect 35mm—my guess is Visage was shown digitally because it was the only one of the three never released in Japan and there is no Japanese-subbed print).

[lonewhistler]

Hello, first-time poster in general here, feeling a bit like a time traveler diving into forums like this. Apologies if this question has been posed in the past, and if i butcher the formatting, but I feel like it's relevant to ask in light of a recent eBay posting of Visage DVDs at an incredibly reasonable price, and my subsequent purchasing of one. It seems like one of his hardest to watch movies, so naturally I jumped on the opportunity. And it showed up surprisingly quickly, considering international shipping from South Korea. However! Despite the back listing an English subtitle track, there's only a Korean subtitle track.

So, to my actual question. Is there an English subtitle track for Visage available somewhere out in the ether? Or a complete version somewhere with English subs? While I'm glad that I own a physical copy (region-free!) of the movie, I sadly still can't exactly take in the story properly, oops. And the Youtube upload I stumbled upon at one point looked pretty butchered. Thanks in advance, and much love and appreciation to y'all! It's good to see this level of dedication around a director that doesn't get near enough attention around these parts <3

[zedz]

Hello, first-time poster in general here, feeling a bit like a time traveler diving into forums like this. Apologies if this question has been posed in the past, and if i butcher the formatting, but I feel like it's relevant to ask in light of a recent eBay posting of Visage DVDs at an incredibly reasonable price, and my subsequent purchasing of one. It seems like one of his hardest to watch movies, so naturally I jumped on the opportunity. And it showed up surprisingly quickly, considering international shipping from South Korea. However! Despite the back listing an English subtitle track, there's only a Korean subtitle track.

So, to my actual question. Is there an English subtitle track for Visage available somewhere out in the ether? Or a complete version somewhere with English subs? While I'm glad that I own a physical copy (region-free!) of the movie, I sadly still can't exactly take in the story properly, oops. And the Youtube upload I stumbled upon at one point looked pretty butchered. Thanks in advance, and much love and appreciation to y'all! It's good to see this level of dedication around a director that doesn't get near enough attention around these parts <3

The French DVD had English subtitles, but I believe it's long out of print (and not easy to get when it was!) I think it's the only Tsai feature to that point that never got released in the US or UK.

[mteller]

new "Walker"... in Washington DC!

[ryannichols7]

new "Walker"... in Washington DC!

this is debuting at Berlin, and is entitled 'Abiding Nowhere'. the listing gives no further details. excited to see how Tsai captures the US