Vive L'Amour

Director: Tsai Ming-liang, Tsai Ming-liang, Tsai Ming-liang, Tsai Ming-liang, Tsai Ming-liang, Tsai Ming-liang

1994 / 118min / DCP

Tsai’s second theatrical feature drew understandable comparisons to Antonioni’s chilly studies in urban ennui on initial release, but this bizarre love triangle—Chen Chao-jung and Yang Kuei-mei meet for illicit rendezvous in an “empty” apartment in Taipei where, unbeknownst to them, a depressive Lee Kang-sheng is hiding out—found the Taiwanese master developing his own, utterly distinct style, distinguished by elegantly composed static takes, perverse deadpan comedy, and lovelorn longing. A disarmingly funny masterclass in less-is-more storytelling economy that is, in its final scene in the then-unfinished Daan Forest Park, utterly devastating.