ST, Aug 3, 2005
THE WAYWARD CLOUD (R21)
114 minutes/Opens tomorrow/***
HERE are two ways to watch a Tsai Ming-liang movie - you see it
with either exasperation or a wry smile.
The exasperation comes from not knowing what it is that you are
actually watching. The smile occurs when you see the weird things
he makes his actors do.
In this rojak mix of quiet drama, comedy, retro musical and graphic
'is-it-real' smut, you amuse yourself with scenes of Tsai's regular
muse, Lee Kang-sheng, doing outrageous things: getting butt-naked,
fondling himself, having sex with a Japanese porn actress (Sumomo
Yozakura), lip-synching to 1960s Mandarin cabaret showtunes and, at
one stage, dressing up as a giant phallus.
.....
A porn movie gets made while souls hanker for something, voyeurs
look at one another, hardly anybody talks and, in one hilarious
scene, Shiang-chyi gives birth appa rently to a big
watermelon.
To stay sane in the confusion, you would do best to just go with
the flow. There is method and meaning to Tsai's madness.
In the songs he chooses and the symbols he uses, he is offering us
two sides: The girl, Shiang-chyi, represents the Soul while the
porn actress personifies the Body......