Tsai Ming-liang

Tsai Ming-liang (蔡明亮 ; Cài Míngliàng) is a Taiwanese filmmaker and auteur.

Tsai Ming-liang was born in Malaysia on October 27th 1957. He graduated from the Chinese Cultural University of Taiwan and has written and directed for stage and television. His films have won many awards including the 1994 Golden Lion (Aiqing Wansui, 1994), the Silver Bear for Tian Bian Yi Duo Yuan (2004) and five FIPRESCI awards.

In 2002, he received the distinguished medal of the Knight of Order of Arts and Letters from the French government. His next film will be produced by and shot at the Louvre Museum in France.

His films have been acclaimed worldwide and have won numerous film festival awards. He has written and directed 10 feature films and has many short films and television films. Tsai is one of the most celebrated “Second New Wave” film directors of Taiwanese cinema.  [Source: Wikipedia]

“The body always plays an important role in my films. You could say the body is the most beautiful thing we have or you could say it’s the ugliest thing we have. We can sell bodies, we can adore or worship bodies.”

Tsai Ming-liang filmography

Poster for the movie "Journey to the West"

Journey to the West

A Buddhist monk walks barefoot and incredibly slowly through Marseille – so slowly, that his progress is barely perceptible and he becomes a calming influence in the midst of the town’s goings-on.

the-river

The river

The story of a troubled father-son relationship set against the backdrop of Taipei’s rapidly evolving youth culture.

Poster for the movie "Vive L'Amour"

Vive L’Amour

The film focuses on three city folks who unknowingly share the same apartment: Mei, a real estate agent who uses it for her sexual affairs; Ah-jung, her current lover; and Hsiao-ang, who’s stolen the key and uses the apartment as a retreat.

Poster for the movie "The Hole"

The Hole

In the final days of the year 1999, most everyone in Taiwan has died. A strange plague has ravished the island. Supposedly spread by cockroaches, the disease sends its victims into a psychosis where they act like the insects. Eventually, they die. The Hole takes place in a crumbling apartment building. Its two protagonists live right above and below each other. The woman is on the lower floor, and the pipes above her apartment are … Read more

Poster for the movie "Face"

Face

Hsiao-Kang, a Taiwanese film director, travels to the Louvre in Paris, France, to shoot a film that explores the Salomé myth.

Poster for the movie "Goodbye, Dragon Inn"

Goodbye, Dragon Inn

Goodbye, Dragon Inn is set in the approximately ninety minutes of the last feature at an old Taipei cinema that is closing down, showing King Hu’s 1967 sword-fighting classic Dragon Inn. Only a few people are present in the cinema, and a variety of subplots are developed around them. Throughout the film, the ticket woman tries to find the projectionist, searching for him in order to present him with a steamed bun. A young Japanese … Read more

Poster for the movie "The Wayward Cloud"

The Wayward Cloud

Hsiao-Kang, now working as an adult movie actor, meets Shiang-chyi once again. Meanwhile, the city of Taipei faces a water shortage that makes the sales of watermelons skyrocket.

Poster for the movie "Rebels of the Neon God"

Rebels of the Neon God

Defying his parents, disaffected youth Hsiao Kang drops out of the local cram school to head for the bright lights of downtown Taipei. He falls in with Ah Tze, a young hoodlum, and their relationship is a confused mixture of hero-worship and rivalry that soon leads to trouble.

Poster for the movie "What Time Is It There?"

What Time Is It There?

When a young street vendor with a grim home life meets a woman on her way to Paris, they forge an instant connection. He changes all the clocks in Taipei to French time.

Poster for the movie "The Skywalk Is Gone"

The Skywalk Is Gone

A girl (Shiang-chyi Chen) looks for a street vendor in Taipei. But she can’t find him since the Skywalk is Gone.

The-Deserted Tsai Ming-liang VR movie

The Deserted

First Chinese VR film from Tsai Ming-liang. The story involves a man recovering from an illness, who is unable to communicate properly with either his mother or the female ghost who lives next door. Instead he communes with a fish.

Poster for the movie "Stray Dogs"

Stray Dogs

A father and his two children wander the margins of modern day Taipei, from the woods and rivers of the outskirts to the rain streaked streets of the city. By day the father scrapes out a meager income as a human billboard for luxury apartments, while his young son and daughter roam the supermarkets and malls surviving off free food samples. Each night the family takes shelter in an abandoned building. The father is strangely … Read more

Poster for the movie "Beautiful 2012"

Beautiful 2012

A superb package of shorts by four leading East Asian directors: Ann Hui on a male-to-female sex change, Kim Tae-yong on an emotional imposture, Gu Changwei on pregnancy in China and Tsai Ming-Liang on time and the city of Hong Kong.

Poster for the movie "I Don't Want to Sleep Alone"

I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone

Forest fires burn in Sumatra; a smoke covers Kuala Lumpur. Grifters beat an immigrant day laborer and leave him on the streets. Rawang, a young man, finds him, carries him home, cares for him, and sleeps next to him. In a loft above lives a waitress. She sometimes provides care and attention. More violence seems a constant possibility. They find another man abandoned on the street, paralyzed. They carry him. While no one speaks to … Read more