Tsai Ming-liang’s 10 favourite films of all time
Undoubtedly among the most celebrated figures in the landscape of Asian cinema, Taiwanese filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang is an artistic powerhouse. Known for his incredibly poetic depictions of modernity in masterpieces such as Rebels of the Neon God, Tsai’s cinema has left an indelible mark on the frameworks of modern arthouse filmmaking.
One of the major figures within the vastly influential Taiwanese New Wave, Tsai’s approach to New Queer Cinema has redefined the entire corpus. His most notable works – including Vive L’Amour and The River, examine the philosophical implications of modernity unlike anything else out there, embedded with themes ranging from sociopolitical themes such as globalisation in Asia to more personal ones like urban isolation and loneliness.
For the latest edition of the BFI Sight and Sound poll, Tsai was also invited to send in his entries for the greatest films of all time. While most of his selections are classics, the director also decided to highlight his own film Goodbye, Dragon Inn, among his top ten. This isn’t the first time Tsai has selected his own for the Sight and Sound poll, and we love him for it.
In many ways, Goodbye, Dragon Inn is Tsai’s greatest cinematic accomplishment. Set in a dilapidated theatre screening King Hu’s Dragon Inn, the film conducts a dizzying investigation of our changing relationship with the theatre space and modern cinephilia. While it had a lot of emotional gravity when it was first released, Goodbye, Dragon Inn has become one of the most touching films on the subject in the post-pandemic period.
During a conversation with Reverse Shot, Tsai explained: “I never wanted to make Goodbye Dragon Inn—it was not a film that I had planned to make. But when I was scouting locations for What Time Is It There? I discovered the theatre in a small town outside of Taipei. I got to know the owner and shot the segment there. A few months later I ran into the owner again, and he told me that he was going to have to close the theatre. Audiences were small, and it was now mainly a cruising place for gay men.”
The director added: “It was just an impulse—I leased the theatre for six months. I had no idea what I was going to do and thought I’d just make a short film, but I wanted to try to capture something of it on film. I feel like it was the theatre that was calling me to make the film. That theatre reminded me of my experience growing up in Malaysia. At that time, there were seven or eight grand theatres like that, that have disappeared one by one over the past few years. Prior to making Dragon Inn I was having this recurring dream of this particular theatre in Malaysia. It’s almost like these images of childhood wouldn’t let me go.”
Check out the full list below.
Tsai Ming-liang’s 10 favourite films:
- The 400 Blows (François Truffaut, 1959)
- L’Eclisse (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1962)
- Ali, Fear Eats the Soul (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1974)
- Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Tsai Ming-liang, 2003)
- Mouchette (Robert Bresson, 1966)
- The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955)
- The Only Son (Yasujirô Ozu, 1936)
- The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1927)
- Spring in a Small Town (Fei Mu, 1948)
- Sunrise (F.W. Murnau, 1927)