Days

Tsai's films have been becoming more and more minimalist over time. Yet while his stories have always been very implicit, films such as Vive l'amour (1994), Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003) and the masterful Les chiens errants (2013) all have a message, a concept, a central idea. Even a extremely minimalist piece such as Le Voyage en Occident (2014) is very conceptual.

Rizi lacks in that regard, in my opinion. I can see how Tsai wanted to strip down a film even more than some of his other work, to get even closer to the essence, and this is to be applauded. At the same time it seems to me the film is an afterthought and not a premeditated work. From what I gather, Tsai had been shooting Kang-sheng Lee and Anong Houngheuangsy separately, without the goal of making a film.

Apparently he was then compelled to create a feature film after all and decided the center piece would be an encounter between the two men. Now, that encounter is filmed beautifully and while it has been described as erotic, I'd say above all it is a human encounter.

However the material before and after this central event is disconnected and does not have the same weight as provided by the performances in some Tsai's earlier films. One could argue that this disconnection is on purpose, but it just did not feel that way to me. It felt somewhat artificial.

Still, the two hours were a nice meditative experience, so if you are a slow cinema afficionado it's worth seeing. But it's no Stray Dogs or Goodbye Dragon Inn.

Days is one of those movies that you either hate and feel so bored or love and truly enjoy. It's like 2 h long with no dialogue, there's literally no conversation at all, and the shots are slow, motionless and long. I personally don't mind this genre and I did love this movie. Days is visually stunning, the cinematography is great with many amazing frames. It has no words but it has lots of vibes, it delivers lots of emotions about loneliness, affection, attachment, routine, etc. If you're into a beautiful silent visual cinematic experience then Days would be a perfect choice.

Basically, nothing happens in the movie. If i record my daily life under covid restrictions it would be a more interesting movie. I was able to watch it on 2X fast-forward and the scenes were still ridiculously long.

Amazing cinematic language and pure cinema. Tsai always learned us that the movie language is about the frames and filming time. The touching story of his films has always a great meaning.

The Film is an onirious, dreamlike journey, it reminds of Tarkowskis Stalker or other great films outside the normal scale. You have to be patient until the end, although the long frames without camera movement and not much happening forces you in the seat and at one point you will be able maybe like an meditation to think about yourself. I also saw the film at it's Berlinale opening and I was also thinking what does this film or the director want to do with me? Get yourself on this journey to your inner self and you will not be disappointed.