The Melbourne Cinémathèque & ACMI present
Rebels of the Neon God
When
Wed 7 Jun 2023
Tsai’s confident first theatrical feature wallows in the listlessness of pre-millennial Taipei – brilliantly shot by career-long collaborator Liao Pen-Jung – but maintains a sly sense of humour as it follows a young dropout (played by Tsai’s lifelong muse Lee Kang-Sheng in only their second pairing) whose mother believes him to be the reincarnation of the unruly god Nezha. “No director since Fassbinder has [had] such insight into the lives of lost young men in crumbling inner cities… Brilliantly observed, with dialogue kept to a minimum, and as tender as a Lou Reed elegy.” (Tony Rayns).
Courtesy of the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute.
Also screening on Wed 7 June
Program
One Day at a Time: The cinema of Tsai Ming-Liang
What Time Is It There? (2001) – Wed 31 May, 7pm
Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003) – Wed 31 May, 9.15pm
Rebels of the Neon God (1992) – Wed 7 Jun, 7pm
The Wayward Cloud (2005) – Wed 7 Jun, 9pm
The River (1997) – Wed 14 Jun, 7pm
Days (2020) – Wed 14 Jun, 9.10pm
About the program
Of all the notable figures of to emerge in 1990s world cinema, few have developed a corpus of work as consistently transfixing and distinctive as that of Malaysian-Taiwanese auteur Tsai Ming-Liang (1957–). Born in Kuching, Sarawak, Tsai was largely raised by his cinephile grandparents, who would take him to the movies twice a day from the age of three...
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About Melbourne Cinémathèque
Australia's longest-running film society, Melbourne Cinémathèque screens significant works of international cinema in the medium they were created, the way they would have originally screened.
Melbourne Cinémathèque is self-administered, volunteer-run, not-for-profit and membership-driven.
