The River

Hsiao-kang’s parents live together without saying a word. While the father indulges his desires in gay saunas, the mother has a lover. When Hsiao-kang is hired on a film set to play dead, lying fully clothed in a river, he begins to suffer from violent torticollis, a probable reaction to the collapse of his family environment.

Tsai Ming-Liang observes the family’s disenchantment, and uses an inexplicable neck ache from which his actor and muse Lee Kang-sheng suffers to explore all its physical and emotional ramifications. Water, which means love, is an element in its own right that runs through Tsai Ming-Liang’s cinematography in the form of rain, sweat, puddles, tears, rivers...

The River is a sublime and desperate quest for the smallest shred of affection. Lee Kang-sheng’s tilted head and very distinctive posture will also be adopted by the walking monk in the Walker series.


Your Face (BM19), I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone (BM18, 2008 et 2007), Afternoon (BM16), La Saveur de la pastèque (BM14 et 2008), Stray Dogs (BM14), Walker (Beautiful) (BM13), The Hole (BM12), Boys (BM08), Et là-bas quelle heure est-il ? (BM08), Goodbye Dragon Inn (BM08), Les Rebelles du Dieu Néon (BM08), The River (BM08), Vive l’amour (BM08)

TFAI / Taïwan Film and Audiovisual Institute / Taïwan / Wanying Tsai / wanying@tfai.org.tw