User reviews

At the risk of coming on too strong, I think the other posters here who disliked this film were idiots. True, Good-bye Dragon Inn is EXTREMELY slow. Almost nothing happens in the film. Nonetheless, it is truly excellent. A great, subtle ghost story...

It's especially good if you have ever been to any of the big, old, concrete movie theaters in Asia... Theaters that are now being totally replaced by multiplexes.

Good-bye Dragon Inn is basically a poem to the old cinema culture of Asia. I have great memories of going to those huge, decaying movie theaters... in summer to escape the heat... during the rainy season, when the sound of the rain almost drowned out the film itself. Great stuff.

If you are familiar with the avant-garde films of Michael Snow or some of Werner Herzog's more minimalist pieces you'll be prepared for this experience. Snow's signature piece consists of a 45 minute zoom of an entire room into a postcard on a wall while drama occasionally occurs around the postcard.

The sense of space is amazing in this film. You really get the feeling of the enormous theater. The "plot" consists of a Japanese man cruising the theater as it seems are a number of other men who all disappear before the projected film is over. Also the box office woman's attempt to give half a steam bun to the absent projectionist. Nobody but two old men and a small child seem to be interested in the movie projected.

You have been warned. Also the director seems to have an obsession with men's rooms. The two old actors in the film are interesting however the director sets it up so you question whether the one with the small child is also cruising for men. I don't know if that was necessary.

There has been both glowing and dismissive reviews of this film.

If you want to be entertained and shown a good time, then this is not the film for you. This film is on the other end of the spectrum than the average action film.

This film lays down a subtle tapestry of images whereupon the characters drift about and interact (often without words) as they go about their separate quests or duties.

A quiet film with quiet rewards for those with patience to finish it.

Sometimes sparseness of action on the screen is needed. It's the difference between looking at a snap shot, and experiencing the stillness of the scene. The world is not always filled with action, it often has periods of reflection and meditation. Avoid using the Fast Forward function of your DVD player.