THE WAYWARD CLOUD (2005)
A film by Tsai Ming-Liang
Taiwan’s official contender for Oscar nomination, THE WAYWARD
CLOUD is an outrageous blend of sex, comedy and MGM-style
musical extravaganza from the internationally acclaimed auteur
Tsai Ming Liang. Daring, controversial and very funny…
Taiwan is beset by a terrible water shortage. TV stations are
advising the population to economise drastically, and to drink
watermelon juice. But, as always, people are finding their own
solutions to the drought. Shiang-Chyi secretly fills discarded bottles
in public toilets, while Hsiao-Kang takes midnight baths in rooftop
storage tanks. They drift like clouds, never touching. Survival is
hard, but loneliness is impossible to bear. Shiang-Chyi finds a
watermelon, and on the same day encounters Hsiao-Kang. She
remembers buying a watch from him when he worked as a street
vendor. He's a porno actor now, but she doesn't know that yet…
“cinematic invention and balls-to-the-wall
Tim Robey, DAILY TELEGRAPH
“brilliant... you've never seen anything
Jonathan Romney, INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
daring... I loved it.”
like it”
“high
come KY