Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 5, 2020 9:41:00 GMT -8
Rebels of the Neon God
This is definitely a forum film and one currently playing on The Criterion Channel.
And by “foreign” I mean more than place of origin (Taiwan). I mean “foreign” as in “different,” “quirky,” and sometimes just plain “weird.” I reset all my meters for foreign films because my expectations are different. If Hollywood produces little but crap (which is true), then one must be prepared to see what the rest of the world is doing and keep a somewhat open cinematic mind.
The description at The Criterion Channel reads:
So what are these Taiwanese yutes rebelling against? The answer most decidedly is not “What’ve you got?” The film is clearly titled with a grander-sounding “Rebels of the Neon God” because “Bored Yutes Looking to Steal Small Change from Vending Machines” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. But the latter is by far the more accurate description.
Still, the director is expert at painting a bleak urban picture of what it is like (for some, perhaps many) to live in overcrowded Taipei. Remember, this is not a cliché of Taiwanese life produced by Hollywood libtards. It still may be a cliché, but it’s one produced by director/writer Ming-liang Tsai. One can assume he is seeing something that does indeed exist.
And although this is not a documentary, one of the aspects of any good film is that it can (one presumes…carefully) give you a glimpse into how another set of people live.
And here my description falters because I ran into a “They all look alike” effect in this film. I’ve watched tons of Japanese and Chinese films and rarely is that a problem. But in this one, the yutes tend to all look alike and I was often confused about who was who, especially with the Noir lighting and rain used throughout.
So it’s hard for me to talk about some of the characters because some of them blended together into a character mush at times. But Kang-sheng Lee (I think) is the main character. He is a 20-something yute who still lives with his parents. He is bored and listless while his parents seem to be the traditional hard-working and driven set.
All the acting, direction, and production values of this film are high. And as a foreign film, it generally held my interest for much of it. But ultimately there is no real story here. The title, “Rebels of the Neon God” is an outlandish and self-conscious attempt to raise the importance of what is really a series of generally trivial events. There are no gods here, only rain and kids trying to kill time, sometimes in ways that are decidedly not legal.
I think the director/writer thought he was speaking volumes merely by showing bleakness. But without a better plot to hang that bleakness on, no amount of “cool stylization” can be a replacement for it. This is the kind of film that gives “auteur” a bad name. Or maybe it should have a bad name. There was way too much Ming-liang Tsai in this and not enough solid story.
This is definitely a forum film and one currently playing on The Criterion Channel.
And by “foreign” I mean more than place of origin (Taiwan). I mean “foreign” as in “different,” “quirky,” and sometimes just plain “weird.” I reset all my meters for foreign films because my expectations are different. If Hollywood produces little but crap (which is true), then one must be prepared to see what the rest of the world is doing and keep a somewhat open cinematic mind.
The description at The Criterion Channel reads:
Tsai Ming-liang’s debut feature heralded the arrival of one of contemporary cinema’s most acclaimed and idiosyncratic auteurs. The striking first expression of the Taiwanese director’s recurring theme of urban alienation…
So what are these Taiwanese yutes rebelling against? The answer most decidedly is not “What’ve you got?” The film is clearly titled with a grander-sounding “Rebels of the Neon God” because “Bored Yutes Looking to Steal Small Change from Vending Machines” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. But the latter is by far the more accurate description.
Still, the director is expert at painting a bleak urban picture of what it is like (for some, perhaps many) to live in overcrowded Taipei. Remember, this is not a cliché of Taiwanese life produced by Hollywood libtards. It still may be a cliché, but it’s one produced by director/writer Ming-liang Tsai. One can assume he is seeing something that does indeed exist.
And although this is not a documentary, one of the aspects of any good film is that it can (one presumes…carefully) give you a glimpse into how another set of people live.
And here my description falters because I ran into a “They all look alike” effect in this film. I’ve watched tons of Japanese and Chinese films and rarely is that a problem. But in this one, the yutes tend to all look alike and I was often confused about who was who, especially with the Noir lighting and rain used throughout.
So it’s hard for me to talk about some of the characters because some of them blended together into a character mush at times. But Kang-sheng Lee (I think) is the main character. He is a 20-something yute who still lives with his parents. He is bored and listless while his parents seem to be the traditional hard-working and driven set.
All the acting, direction, and production values of this film are high. And as a foreign film, it generally held my interest for much of it. But ultimately there is no real story here. The title, “Rebels of the Neon God” is an outlandish and self-conscious attempt to raise the importance of what is really a series of generally trivial events. There are no gods here, only rain and kids trying to kill time, sometimes in ways that are decidedly not legal.
I think the director/writer thought he was speaking volumes merely by showing bleakness. But without a better plot to hang that bleakness on, no amount of “cool stylization” can be a replacement for it. This is the kind of film that gives “auteur” a bad name. Or maybe it should have a bad name. There was way too much Ming-liang Tsai in this and not enough solid story.
Still, I would be inclined to watch another film by this guy if only because his stuff, although a little short on compelling story, seems genuinely non-pretentious and certainly not riddled with clichés. I may have already seen his Stray Dogs. I think. They all tend to look alike.