Walker Series: Journey to the West + No No Sleep

Director: Tsai Ming-liang

2015 / 90min / DCP

A key entry in Tsai’s Walker series, inspired by the 16th-century Chinese literature classic of the same name and the long overland journey that it describes, Journey to the West—like all of the Walker films—features Lee Kang-sheng as a Buddhist monk in a saffron robe walking at an almost imperceptibly slow pace against the backdrop of a busy cityscape. Here the city is Marseille, where Lee will be joined by a traveling companion of sorts, the great French actor (and trained mime) Denis Lavant. A meditative, curiously absorbing, and quietly glorious work. Screens with No No Sleep, a singular variation on the Walker concept, which begins with Lee’s monk crossing Tokyo and ends with a brief, loaded encounter at a day spa between Lee (perhaps or perhaps not the same character) and Ando Masanobu.

Introduction by Lee Kang-sheng on Sunday, April 27th