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:

Film In Film | Necrophilia | Cooking | Bottled Water | Very Little Dialogue

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:

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

Filming Locations:

Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Company:

Arena Films

Trivia:

Many audience members left the theater during the final scene at the Berlin International Film Festival's screening.

Movie Connections:

References Annie Hall (1977)

Soundtrack:

Ai de kai shi

Get this! An almost dialog-less, nearly hardcore, musical!?

Now this movie is really, really something else! But what should we expect from Taiwanese maverick Ming-liang Tsai?

It is pretty hard to describe 'The Wayward Cloud' accurately. The plot is incredible simple and hardly worth mentioning. A young woman discovers that her boyfriend secretly works as a cock-for-fire at a small porn-studio on another floor in the apartment building they live in. Supposedly it takes place in a not so distant future where Taiwan is very low on water reserves and watermelons has been advised as the best substitute. The couple has stashed lots of water bottles in their fridge and the girl has found a melon in a lake which she has fun treating like a child or such.

There is next to no dialog through most of the movie. Yet there still is plenty of humor to be found in many of the silent situations. Like when they have lost their apartment key outside and find it stamped down in new asphalt. Or when living crabs intended for dinner has got loose in the kitchen.

The sexual content is very explicit on the limit to hardcore porn. Throat-gagging, masturbation, money-shots and deviant games with watermelons. And often the drama is interrupted by the most kitschy and flaming scenes of song and dance! I'm not kidding! 'The Wayward Cloud' is a damn musical!

No, 'The Wayward Cloud' is not by any description a movie for everyone. The sex and general minimalism will probably turn off many. But that just their loss I say. There is something pleasantly pure in the drama and there is several hilarious funny moments. I found the end a bit un-concluded but it is a fine movie anyway.