Tian bian yi duo yun (2005)

Director:

Ming-liang Tsai

Writer:

Ming-liang Tsai (writer)

Release Date:

18 March 2005 (Taiwan)

Genre:

Musical | Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Hsiao-Kang, now working as an adult movie actor, meets Shiang-chyi once again. Meanwhile, the city of Taipei faces a water shortage that makes the sales of watermelons skyrocket. |

Plot Keywords:

Disturbing | Cult Favorite | Drought | Explicit Sex | Laughter

Awards:

3 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Kang-sheng Lee	...	Hsiao-Kang
Shiang-chyi Chen	...	Shiang-chyi
Yi-Ching Lu	...	Mother
Kuei-Mei Yang	...	Taiwanese Porn Actress
Sumomo Yozakura	...	Japanese Porn Star
Huan-Wen Hsiao
Hui-Xun Lin
Kuo-Xuan Jao
Shu-Mei Hung
David Yang
Huan-Wen Wu
Yu-Wei Chang
Xun-You Chou
Lee-Hsing Huang
Tian-Fu Hsu

Also Known As:

Saveur de la pastèque, La (France)
The Wayward Cloud (International: English title)
Un nuage au bord du ciel (France)

Runtime:

Argentina:114 min | USA:112 min | Hong Kong:114 min

Country:

France | Taiwan

Language:

Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Italy:VM18 | Norway:18 | South Korea:18 (re-rating) (cut) | Japan:R-18 | Switzerland:18 (canton of Vaud) | Argentina:18 | France:-16 | Switzerland:18 (canton of Geneva) | Brazil:18 | South Korea:Limited (original rating) | Portugal:M/16 | UK:18 | Hong Kong:III | Singapore:R21 (cut) | Taiwan:R-18

Filming Locations:

Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Company:

Arena Films

Trivia:

Before making The Wayward Cloud, Tsai would often joke that if his film career continued to have financial difficulties he would be forced to direct pornography.

Movie Connections:

References Papillon (1973)

Soundtrack:

Jing xin deng

The Wayward Cloud

The English title is given as "The Wayward Cloud". I saw this film in Taipei where the director, Tsai Ming-liang, stopped in for a surprise speech before the show. (Wouldn't it be great to meet the director before every film instead of sitting through the assault of those damned previews, previews evidently aimed at folks who are deaf and dumb?)

He spoke informally for a few minutes just to assure the audience that he intends the film to have _redeeming social values_ -- as US lawmakers used to say. This seems necessary because the government in Taiwan spent 2 weeks meeting with consultants to decide whether or not to censor the film. They let it show uncut.

That is to say, don't bring your kids to see this -- but adults will be able to see that it is not porn, but rather a critique of porn. This is a simplification, since the main theme of the film is general alienation. The wayward cloud and the drought in the film are shown to be symbolic of the emotional and interpersonal "drifting" and "dryness" that each scene highlights. The film shows how porn is merely one symptom of people's awkward attempt to connect with each other on a deeper level.

The film is unusual in style, (see previous user comment) so don't expect it to imitate Hollywood conventions. It is recognizably in Tsai Ming-liang's previous grim and dim style (i.e., "The Hole" and "The River" and "What Time Is It There?") but here he adds a lighter note of wit to that.

Personally I don't enjoy musicals, but the handful of musical interludes in this film are delightfully surreal and humorous, and while they address heterosexuality, the aesthetic is gay in both senses of the term. I especially liked one of these, where a smiling state statue of historical dictator Chiang Kai-shek is the central prop for a tongue-in-cheek erotic song & dance troupe of lovely ladies. Also the music in itself is attractive since we don't usually get to hear those old songs from Shanghai in the '30s and Hong Kong in the '60s.

The final scene officially raises the bar for the visionary use of a sex scene to reflect on alienation. Those who remember the historic shock of "Last Tango in Paris" (Bertolucci's "Ultimo tango a Parigi") so many years ago will see what I mean by raising the bar. It will make its own peculiar mark in underground film histories.