Rebels of the Neon God

Taiwan filmmaker Tsai Ming-Liang's 1992 debut feature film offers a study in urban alienation in the overcrowded city of Taipei. Sad faced and soft-featured young actor Lee Kang-sheng stars as a disconnected Taiwanese youth studying to get into college who becomes obsessed with a petty criminal (Chen Chao-jung) he sees vandalizing his father's cab. There is very little dialogue in the film and Tsai uses long takes with minimal camera movement to emphasize the boredom and unhappiness of the characters, who seem to be going through the motions of life, particularly the student who simply quits his studies, gets a motorbike, and stalks the young thief. An art film that played in film festivals but did not get a theatrical release in the U.S. until 2015—long after Tsai cemented his reputation with films such as The River and Goodbye Dragon Inn (which also explore inchoate longing and human disconnection in the urban world)—Rebels of the Neon God already shows the filmmaker very much in command of his art. Incidentally, Lee went on to become Tsai's onscreen alter ego, starring in all of his subsequent films. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)