Tsai Ming-liang

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Tsai Ming-liang (Template:Lang-zh; born 27 October 1957) is a Malaysian filmmaker based in Taiwan and one of the most celebrated directors in the Slow Cinema genre and the "Second New Wave" of Taiwanese cinema.

Tsai has written and directed 11 feature films and many short films and television films. He is best known for his feature films Vive L'Amour (1994, for which he won the Golden Lion), The River (1997), Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003) and Stray Dogs (2013). All of his productions star Lee Kang-sheng.

Early life

Tsai was born in Malaysia. He is of Chinese descent and spent his first 20 years in Kuching, Sarawak, after which he moved to Taipei, Taiwan. This, he said, had "a huge impact on [his] mind and psyche". "Even today", Tsai has said, "I feel I belong neither to Taiwan nor to Malaysia. In a sense, I can go anywhere I want and fit in, but I never feel that sense of belonging."[1]

Tsai graduated from the Drama and Cinema Department of the Chinese Culture University of Taiwan in 1982 and worked as a theatrical producer, screenwriter, and television director in Hong Kong. From 1989 to 1991, he directed several telefilms. One of these, Boys, starred his muse, Lee Kang-sheng.

Career

1990s

Tsai's first feature film was Rebels of the Neon God (1992). A film about troubled youth in Taipei, it starred Lee as the character Hsiao-Kang. Lee went on to appear in all of Tsai's feature films as of 2023. Tsai's second feature, Vive L'Amour (1994), is about three people who unknowingly share an apartment. The film is slow-paced, has little dialogue, and is about alienation; all of these became Tsai's trademarks. Vive L'Amour was critically acclaimed and won the Golden Horse Awards for best picture and best director.

Tsai's next film was The River (1997), in which a family has to deal with the son's neck pain. The family is similar to one that appears in Rebels of the Neon God and is played by the same three actors. The Hole (1998) is about two neighbors in an apartment. It features several musical numbers.

2000s

In Tsai's next film, What Time Is It There? (2001), a man and a woman meet in Taipei before the woman travels to Paris. This was Tsai's first film to star Chen Shiang-chyi, who starred in his next few films alongside Lee. Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003) is about people inside an old cinema that is closing down. For this film, Tsai included even longer shots and fewer lines of dialogue than in previous films, a trend that continued in his later work. The Wayward Cloud (2005) is a sequel to What Time Is It There? in which Hsiao-Kang and Shiang-chyi meet again and start a relationship while Hsiao-Kang works as a pornographic film actor. This film, like The Hole, features several musical numbers.

Tsai's next film, I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (2006), was his first set in Malaysia and is about two different characters, both played by Lee. In 2007, the Malaysian Censorship Board banned the film based on incidents shown depicting the country "in a bad light" for cultural, ethical, and racial reasons, but later allowed it to be screened in the country after Tsai agreed to censor parts of the film according to the board's requirements.[2] Tsai's next film, Face (2009), is about a Taiwanese director who travels to France to shoot a film.

2010–present

File:Asian Filmmaker of the Year, 2010.jpg
Tsai (left) was named Asian Filmmaker of the Year at the 2010 Busan International Film Festival.

Tsai's next feature film was Stray Dogs (2013), about a homeless family.

Most of Tsai's output in the 2010s was dedicated to his exhibition films, in particular the Walker series (2012–24), the subject of which was a monk played by Lee who travels by walking slowly, usually surrounded by a busy background.

In 2020, Tsai released Days, which competed for the Golden Bear at the Berlinale film festival.

In 2021, Tsai released Wandering, a short installation film with no dialogue, which follows a woman visiting an exhibition of Tsai's "Walker" series in Taiwan.

In December 2024, Tsai made his Australian in-person debut at an "In Conversation" event at the Australian Cinémathèque, Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) in Brisbane.[3] This event coincides with a special retrospective of Tsai's work as part of QAGOMA's Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art.[4]

Honours

Tsai's honours include a Golden Lion (best picture) for Vive L'Amour at the 51st Venice International Film Festival; the Silver Bear – Special Jury Prize for The River at the 47th Berlin International Film Festival;[5] the FIPRESCI award for The Hole at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival;[6] and the Alfred Bauer Prize and Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Achievement for The Wayward Cloud at the 55th Berlin International Film Festival; the Grand Jury Prize at the 70th Venice International Film Festival for Stray Dogs. In 1995, he was a member of the jury at the 45th Berlin International Film Festival.[7]

In 2003, The Guardian voted Tsai No. 18 of the 40 best directors in the world.[8] In 2014, he was named an officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the government of France.[9]

Personal life

Tsai is gay and has incorporated queer themes into his films. Since 2021, he has lived in the mountains near Taipei, where he renovates and lives in abandoned apartments. He shares his living spaces with his long-term collaborator, Lee Kang-sheng, in a platonic relationship.[10]

Filmography

Feature films

Year English title Original title Notes
1992 Rebels of the Neon God 青少年哪吒
1994 Vive l'amour 愛情萬歲 Golden Lion winner
1997 The River 河流
1998 The Hole 洞
2001 What Time Is It There? 你那邊幾點
2003 Goodbye, Dragon Inn 不散
2005 The Wayward Cloud 天邊一朵雲 [11]
2006 I Don't Want to Sleep Alone 黑眼圈
2009 Face 臉 [12]
2013 Stray Dogs 郊遊 [13][14]
2020 Days 日子 [15]

Documentaries

Year Title
2008 Sleeping on Dark Waters
2015 Nà gè xià wu [That Afternoon, aka Afternoon][16][17]
2018 Your Face[18]
2025 Back Home

"Walker" series

Year[19] Title
2012 No Form[20]
Walker
Diamond Sutra[21][22]
Sleepwalk
2013 Walking on Water
2014 Journey to the West[23]
2015 No No Sleep
2018 Sand
2022 Where
2024 Abiding Nowhere

Other exhibition works

Year Title
2001 Fish, Underground (or A Conversation with God)
2002 The Skywalk Is Gone
2008 Madame Butterfly– part of the Lucca Film Festival project "Twenty Puccini"[24][25][26][27]
2015 Xiao Kang[28][29]
2017 The Deserted[30]
2019 Light


2021

Màn bù jīng xīn [Casually] [aka Wandering]
Liang ye bu neng liu / The Night
The Moon and the Tree[19]
2022 Where do you stand, Tsai Ming-Liang?[19]

Segments

Year Title Notes
2004 Welcome to São Paulo "Aquarium"
2007 To Each His Own Cinema "It's a Dream"
2012 Beautiful 2012 "Walker"[31][32][33][34]
2013 Letters from the South "Walking on Water"[35][36][37]
2015 Beautiful 2015 "No No Sleep"[38][39]

TV films

Year Title
1989 Endless Love
The Happy Weaver
Far Away
All Corners of the World
1990 Li Hsiang's Love Line
My Name is Mary
Ah-Hsiung's First Love
1991 Give Me a Home
Boys
Hsio Yueh's Dowry
1995 My New Friends

Casting

Tsai frequently recasts actors he has worked with on previous films:

Actor Rebels of the
Neon God
(1992)		 Vive L'Amour
(1994)		 The River
(1997)		 The Hole
(1998)		 What Time
Is It There?
(2001)		 Goodbye,
Dragon Inn
(2003)		 The Wayward
Cloud
(2005)		 I Don't Want
to Sleep Alone
(2006)		 Face
(2009)		 Stray Dogs
(2013)		 Days
(2020)
Lee Kang-sheng Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY
Lu Yi-ching Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY
Yang Kuei-mei Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY
Chen Shiang-chyi Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY
Chen Chao-jung Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY
Miao Tien Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY Green tickY
Norman Atun Green tickY Green tickY

References

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  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ "Cutting for change" Template:Webarchive, TheStar Online, 14 May 2007.
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  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ STRAY DOGS by Tsai Ming Liang | Urban Distribution International Template:Webarchive. Urbandistrib.com. Retrieved on 29 Jul 2015.
  14. ↑ 70th Venice International Film Festival – Venezia 70 - Jiaoyou (Stray Dogs) Template:Webarchive. Labiennale.org. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.
  15. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  16. ↑ 72nd Venice International Film Festival – Out of Competition - NA RI XIAWU (AFTERNOON) Template:Webarchive. Labiennale.org. Retrieved on 22 Aug 2015.
  17. ↑ 40th Toronto International Film Festival – Wavelengths - AFTERNOON NA RI XIA WU Template:Webarchive. tiff.net. Retrieved on 22 Aug 2015.
  18. ↑ 75th Venice International Film Festival – Biennale Cinema 2018 | Ni de lian (Your Face) Template:Webarchive. Labiennale.org. Retrieved on 27 October 2018.
  19. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  20. ↑ Festival international de cinéma – International film festival Template:Webarchive. FIDMarseille. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.
  21. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  22. ↑ English – Past Exhibitions – Past Exhibitions Template:Webarchive. Ntmofa.gov.tw. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.
  23. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  24. ↑ Festival international de cinéma – International film festival Template:Webarchive. FIDMarseille. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.
  25. ↑ Ming Liang TSAI: Madame Butterfly | Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid | Template:Webarchive. Art-action.org. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.
  26. ↑ Template:In lang MADAME BUTTERFLY | Viennale Template:Webarchive. Viennale.at. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.
  27. ↑ Madam Butterfly | Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival Template:Webarchive. Dokument-festival.com (15 May 2014). Retrieved on 22 May 2014.
  28. ↑ VIENNALE TRAILER 2015 – Tsai Ming-liang: XIAO KANG Template:Webarchive. viennale.at. Retrieved on 25 Oct 2015.
  29. ↑ Template:Trim Template:Replace on YouTubeScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  30. ↑ Tsai Ming-liang on Confronting Death in ‘The Deserted’ and the Future of Virtual Reality Template:Webarchive. thefilmstage.com. Retrieved on 5 Feb 2018.
  31. ↑ http://www.cphdox.dk/d/film.lasso?e=1&ser=1785&s=2012003,2012012Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
  32. ↑ Beautiful 2012 – Film Details :: The 36th Hong Kong International Film Festival. 36.hkiff.org.hk. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.
  33. ↑ Beautiful 2012 | CAAMFest 2013 Template:Webarchive. Caamfest.com. Retrieved on 22 May 2014.
  34. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  35. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  36. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  37. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  38. ↑ Beautiful 2015 – Film Details :: The 39th Hong Kong International Film Festival Template:Webarchive. 39.hkiff.org.hk. Retrieved on 28 May 2015.
  39. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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External links

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