Movielogr

Rating: 7 stars

Tags

taipei taiwan short film 35mm water shortage audition doc films

All movies seen on 02/16/2020

Related Events

• Rebels of the Neon Screen

View on: IMDb | TMDb

The Skywalk Is Gone (2002)

Directed by Tsai Ming-liang

Drama | Short

Overview

A young woman wandering around meets a young man going to a casting call for a pornographic film.

Length 22 minutes

Actors

Lee Kang-Sheng | Chen Shiang-Chyi | Lu Yi-Ching

Viewing History (seen 2 times)

Viewing Notes

Today I cruised down to Doc Films to view my first film in the Rebels of the Neon Screen: A Tsai Ming-Liang Retrospective program, which started in January. The initial films in the series are available via streaming or at my library so I decided to skip the hour+ drive and catch those on my own time. However, today THE WAYWARD CLOUD was scheduled and that’s not readily available (altho it may be in the Strand Releasing channel but that’s another subscription cost). I did see this movie a few years ago via Netflix instawatch and could not recall anything about it other than I enjoyed it. When I saw it in the program it didn’t ring a bell then I saw that I had logged it here. Anyways, this seemed like a film worth making the trip plus it was a 35mm print from Taiwan.

We got a really cool introduction by Jennifer Dorothy Lee that got me really amped to see the film. Then she announced that we’d be getting a 25min short film before the feature. Wha… ?? She didn’t even say the title. So I was very curious! Then it started and I realized it was a 35mm print and immediately recognized this as The Skywalk Is Gone, the short that’s also featured on the Goodbye, Dragon Inn dvd. Was baffled b/c this short is actually scheduled next week with Goodbye, Dragon Inn so why were they screening it w/this film, a 2 hour feature compared to GDI’s lean 80 minutes.

Turns out that this is essentially a prequel to The Wayward Cloud without saying so. At least that’s how I read it as I was watching The Wayward Cloud. This short film features two characters that don’t really meet yet cross paths in this busy corner of Taipei during a water shortage. In The Wayward Cloud these characters meet and begin a bizarre relationship.

So I’m happy they secretly screened this short prior to the feature. I’m merely speculating on this short being a prequel but the coincidence of these two characters and what happens in the short are too strong to dismiss.

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