In Taiwan, Xiao-kang, a young man in his early 20s, lives with his parents in near silence. He is plagued by severe neck pain. His father is bedeviled by water first leaking into his ... See full summary »
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 ... See full summary »
Director:
Ming-liang Tsai
Stars:
Chao-jung Chen,
Kang-sheng Lee,
Kuei-Mei Yang
A strange disease starts to affect people in Taiwan just before the year 2000. The authorities order everyone to evacuate, but some tenants of an apartment building stay put, including a ... See full summary »
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; as he watches ... See full summary »
Director:
Ming-liang Tsai
Stars:
Kang-sheng Lee,
Shiang-chyi Chen,
Yi-Ching Lu
Hsiao-Kang, now working as a pornographic actor, meets Shiang-chyi once again. Meanwhile, the city of Taipei faces a water shortage that makes the sales of watermelons skyrocket.
Director:
Ming-liang Tsai
Stars:
Kang-sheng Lee,
Shiang-chyi Chen,
Yi-Ching Lu
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 ... See full summary »
Director:
Ming-liang Tsai
Stars:
Kang-sheng Lee,
Shiang-chyi Chen,
Norman Atun
An alcoholic man and his two young children barely survive in Taipei. They cross path with a lonely grocery clerk who might help them make a better life.
Tsai Ming-liang returns with this latest entry in his Walker series, in which his monk acquires an unexpected acolyte in the form of Denis Lavant as he makes his way through the streets of a sun-dappled Marseille.
Defying his parents, Hsiao Kang drops out of the local crammer to head for the bright lights of downtown Taipei. He falls in with Ah Tze, a pretty hood and their relationships is a confused mixture of hero-worship and rivalry that soon leads to trouble. Written by
L.H. Wong <[email protected]>
'Rebels of the Neon God' is Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang's debut film. It is a wholly consuming film that leaves much to the imagination at the end. It is well-directed and looks into real life (in Taipei) in its most natural form (although it is supposed to be much brighter and hopeful than Tsai makes it out to be). 'Rebels' moves along much faster than any of Tsai's other feature film which was actually quite surprisingly. I feel that Tsai's films should be watched in chronological order of when he made them because they tell a story of one person – Hsaio Kang (always played by the wonderful Lee Kang-sheng) – as he grows the camera follows him through life's journey. This journey is not always easy as he is depicted as an outsider.
In 'Rebels of the Neon God', Hsaio is a motivated tutorial student who leaves school to seek revenge on hoodlums who wrecked his father's taxi cab rear-view mirror. He also leaves school and pockets the money because he is sick of dealing with his parents. Hsaio and his father do not have that great of a relationship and his mother thinks it is because a woman she met said he was the reincarnation of a god – Norcha. Norcha was a famous god in Chinese mythology, supposedly he was a trouble-making child who "ended up locked in his father's magical pagoda". This seems like an appropriate title but 'Rebels of the Neon God' is right behind it – the former more subtly fittingly though and the latter sounds better. Ah Tze and Ah Bing are two petty who live in an apartment building which always floods due to an annoying floor drain which doesn't actually serve its purpose. Ah Kuei is a girl who lives in their apartment and flirts with them (more so she hits on Ah Tze).
The same theme runs through all of Tsai's film – a lack of knowing how to communicate and actually communicating. In this film it is more straightforward and this is probably his most accessible film. There is one scene in which Hsaio kills a cockroach by stabbing it with his compass point. Hsaio throws the dead insect into the wind but then notices it resurfaced on the other side of the window. When he notices this he tries to swat the cockroach but hits the window pane too hard and breaks it. The camera moves down to what he was studying and blood starts to drip on his school papers. He then goes to the bathroom to wash his hand and pamper his now wounded hand but not without his mother inquiring "You have nothing better to do with yourself".
For the most part the actors play their parts very well. Ah Kuei is good for the cute but insignificant girl whom Ah Tze and Ah Bing chase after and she chases after them. Chen Chao-jung is handsome as Ah Tze, one of the petty criminals who has trouble communicating with one of the women he slept with when he wakes up. Jen Chang-bin plays Ah Bing well but his character sadly gets hurt in the end and it really isn't his fault at all. Lee Kang-sheng is perfect as Hsiao Kang – by viewing Tsai's other films it is obvious he has mastered the art of acting and putting on the bleakest face possible.
This film actually reminded me of one of my other favourite filmmakers, Wong Kar Wai. Wong Kar Wai's feature debut, 'As Tears Go By', felt amateurish and it felt like Wong Kar Wai had not fully realized his potential as a director and the theme that runs through his films. Every debut is a rough start but both of these filmmakers first feature films showed that they would both grow to become some of the best contributors to cinema around later in their cinematic careers.
Tsai Ming-liang's 'Rebels of the Neon God' captures youth in Taipei absolutely brilliant without all those long takes featured in his future films. Water is a very important part of this film – look out for rain sequences and flooded apartment floors. 'Rebels' is much easier to watch than Tsai's other films because the camera moves more and it just seemed much more interesting. I think if I watched all of Tsai Ming-liang's films in order it would have worked out better because they basically show what a great filmmaker he was grown into.
19 of 21 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
'Rebels of the Neon God' is Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang's debut film. It is a wholly consuming film that leaves much to the imagination at the end. It is well-directed and looks into real life (in Taipei) in its most natural form (although it is supposed to be much brighter and hopeful than Tsai makes it out to be). 'Rebels' moves along much faster than any of Tsai's other feature film which was actually quite surprisingly. I feel that Tsai's films should be watched in chronological order of when he made them because they tell a story of one person – Hsaio Kang (always played by the wonderful Lee Kang-sheng) – as he grows the camera follows him through life's journey. This journey is not always easy as he is depicted as an outsider.
In 'Rebels of the Neon God', Hsaio is a motivated tutorial student who leaves school to seek revenge on hoodlums who wrecked his father's taxi cab rear-view mirror. He also leaves school and pockets the money because he is sick of dealing with his parents. Hsaio and his father do not have that great of a relationship and his mother thinks it is because a woman she met said he was the reincarnation of a god – Norcha. Norcha was a famous god in Chinese mythology, supposedly he was a trouble-making child who "ended up locked in his father's magical pagoda". This seems like an appropriate title but 'Rebels of the Neon God' is right behind it – the former more subtly fittingly though and the latter sounds better. Ah Tze and Ah Bing are two petty who live in an apartment building which always floods due to an annoying floor drain which doesn't actually serve its purpose. Ah Kuei is a girl who lives in their apartment and flirts with them (more so she hits on Ah Tze).
The same theme runs through all of Tsai's film – a lack of knowing how to communicate and actually communicating. In this film it is more straightforward and this is probably his most accessible film. There is one scene in which Hsaio kills a cockroach by stabbing it with his compass point. Hsaio throws the dead insect into the wind but then notices it resurfaced on the other side of the window. When he notices this he tries to swat the cockroach but hits the window pane too hard and breaks it. The camera moves down to what he was studying and blood starts to drip on his school papers. He then goes to the bathroom to wash his hand and pamper his now wounded hand but not without his mother inquiring "You have nothing better to do with yourself".
For the most part the actors play their parts very well. Ah Kuei is good for the cute but insignificant girl whom Ah Tze and Ah Bing chase after and she chases after them. Chen Chao-jung is handsome as Ah Tze, one of the petty criminals who has trouble communicating with one of the women he slept with when he wakes up. Jen Chang-bin plays Ah Bing well but his character sadly gets hurt in the end and it really isn't his fault at all. Lee Kang-sheng is perfect as Hsiao Kang – by viewing Tsai's other films it is obvious he has mastered the art of acting and putting on the bleakest face possible.
This film actually reminded me of one of my other favourite filmmakers, Wong Kar Wai. Wong Kar Wai's feature debut, 'As Tears Go By', felt amateurish and it felt like Wong Kar Wai had not fully realized his potential as a director and the theme that runs through his films. Every debut is a rough start but both of these filmmakers first feature films showed that they would both grow to become some of the best contributors to cinema around later in their cinematic careers.
Tsai Ming-liang's 'Rebels of the Neon God' captures youth in Taipei absolutely brilliant without all those long takes featured in his future films. Water is a very important part of this film – look out for rain sequences and flooded apartment floors. 'Rebels' is much easier to watch than Tsai's other films because the camera moves more and it just seemed much more interesting. I think if I watched all of Tsai Ming-liang's films in order it would have worked out better because they basically show what a great filmmaker he was grown into.