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Critic Robert Christgau, who wrote about the punk band Ramones, said their music “revealed how much you can take and still have rock and roll.” Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang reveals in his new movie “Days” how much you can take out of a fictional film and still have cinema.
An opening text states something that raises eyebrows: “This movie is intentionally without subtitles.” The movie then offers a shot Lee Kang-shengAn almost ubiquitous actor in Tsai’s feature filmography slumped into a chair as viewed through a glass pane. A storm is brewing outside; Reflected tree branches dive and sway. In an entree that is risky for cooking, actor Anong Houngheuangsy cleans vegetables and prepares a soup.
Both men are initially depicted behind obstacles, and often remain so. And about 35 minutes later, we hear the first dialogue in the movie – some weak, random conversation during an absinthe-burning acupuncture session for Lee, who also suffers from a condition that puts him on a neck brace for a spell.
This is a slow moving movie. A little over two hours and less than 60 shots by my reckoning. Given this, and the camera’s persistently realistic, pertinent point of view, “Days” can be said to have created the legend of Chantal Akerman. “Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai de Commerce, 1080 Brussels” It looks like “The Dark Knight Rises”. But that’s definitely not the case.
Tsai’s reasons for prolonging her shoot become clear after a while and the film creates an uncanny mood. For most of the movie, Anong and Lee don’t portray many characters as physical beings in physical space. The photo of a building with shattered reflective surfaces points you to the fantastic and wonder of everyday life.
The picture brings Anong and Lee together for an erotically intense massage session over 10 minutes. Afterwards, Lee gives Anong a jukebox, the melody of which reverts to both a classical and a classical cinematic piece. And the last two shots of the film, in which its actors are miraculously fully human, are among the most striking evocations of the agony of quiet solitude any film genre can offer.
Days
Not rated. Working time: 2 hours 7 minutes. Subtitled in Mandarin. In movie theaters.
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