After the gleeful vulgarities of The Wayward Cloud (see the review on p66), Taiwan-based director Tsai Ming-liang is back on track with this follow-up. Shooting for the first time in his native Malaysia, he does for Kuala Lumpur what he usually does for Taipei, fashioning it into a dreamlike, shifting world of misty corridors and half-finished buildings. Tsai’s regular lead Lee Kang-sheng takes a dual role, as a Paralysed Guy tended by a young waitress and a Homeless Guy whom a gentle Bengali immigrant takes in and invites to share his mattress. Then the waitress falls for the Homeless Guy, and triangular tensions ensue. Tsai’s long, static, near-wordless takes may try the patience of some, but fans will be enchanted by his new-found warmth.
