Ray Pride

(Bu san) "I often dream of old theaters," Tsai Ming-liang has said, talking about "Goodbye, Dragon Inn," (2003) his sweet, deadpan sort-of-masterpiece about the almost slow-motion goings-on inside the Fu-Ho, a Taipei movie theater on its closing night. Here's the history of moviegoing, leaky roofs, squeaky seats, creepy customers, tears and all, in one minimal gem. Eighty minutes, maybe ten lines of dialogue: "Goodbye, Dragon Inn" is partly about the semi-silence that passes during the showing of a movie in a dilapidated barn of a movie palace. Forty minutes or so in, someone asks, "Do you know this theater is haunted?" Of course it is. As a character asks in the movie being shown, King Hu's 1966 action film "Dragon Inn," "You come to this wilderness for what purpose?" Exquisitely shaped and paced, the director of "What Time Is It There?" makes the most of his customary minimalism, with superior craft and inspired deadpan. His comic timing is a marvel. Tsai offers a glimmer of his intentions in the pressbook: "Though it has declined and lost its glitter and you have forgotten about the theater, it still continues a long journey and still welcomes the outsiders of society, the old, the crippled girl, the lonely ghosts and spirits. Until today, [when] it will be torn down and it will disappear..." 81m.

"Goodbye, Dragon Inn" opens Friday at the Music Box.

(2005-01-04)

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