Stray Dogs

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Audience Member Masterpiece of art. The film requires a lot of patience, but soon we adapt to its slow pace, ... SPOILERS. The film criticizes the alienation of society and the continuous attempt to find meaning in our Absurd life, whether through art, family or religion. The mural means the film itself, the characters are us who try to find some meaning in something empty Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Audience Member The film is too slow. Even in accelerate, I found it slow. This should have been a short film. Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Audience Member Tsai Ming-Liang's style has so far been utilized for the sake of presenting ideas and allowing the audience to ruminate on them, leaving the subtext hidden in plain sight without spelling anything out. With Stray Dogs, he uses his love of long-takes and the static camera for a different purpose, his intentionally slow pace lending itself to the central story of a homeless family's daily struggle to survive as it demonstrates how long the days would be if one were in their situation. It's a new outlet to convey his signature themes, but it's never made explicit whether or not it's meant to be seen as a bleak counterpart to The River or a hopeful spiritual sibling to Goodbye, Dragon Inn. He lets the audience know what they're getting into from the get-go, holding a shot of a woman brushing her hair for a few minutes before showing the title, effectively signaling to those with an aversion to this kind of thing to leave the theater lest they endure it for two and a half more hours. He places a lot of faith in the audience with this film; the entire point is up to the viewer's interpretation. Yes, he looks at misery in city life and contrasts it with nature, but there are contradictions here that signal that it could ultimately go in two polar opposite directions. The city is collapsing around the family, trying to swallow them up and digest them, but they cling to each other, finding moments of beauty, presenting the central paradox that leads to the film's interpretive ending. Tsai's ending is either a depressing statement about society's irredeemability that would ultimately render the family's entire existence futile or a poignant reaffirmation that life is worth enduring, a dilemma that the characters try to figure out themselves. One makes a decision and it causes the other to make his own. The camera then lingers to allow for you to make yours, leaving it up to you to decide whether or not the final shot is meant to represent art as a beacon of hope in a cruel abyss or a nihilist representation of our ultimate insignificance. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/10/23 Full Review Audience Member A demanding film that may be both meditative and excausting. We follow an alcaholic that tries to make his own and his two kids lives go round. There is not much else going on and the devastating journey is presented trough very long shots. Mostly stills, mostly over-long and many of them seem unnecessary. It's beautifully shot and the slowness makes you go trough every inch of the screen. This is both the strenght and the weakness of the film. It's easy to loose interest here. It's 138 minutes long, but could easily have been told in 60 minutes. The long shots may reward me later on, as the images feel burned inside my head. Right now it feel too long and too slow, but the last 20 minutes or so, just done in two static shots was impressive and effectful. 7 out of 10 cabbages. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Audience Member Well filmed, but the attempt to "pause" on the characters for long moments at a time just doesn't work. If edited like a normal movie, it wouldn't be more than probably an hour and fifteen minutes or so. Not that it would mean it would make a better movie, either way I don' think there's enough to make for a compelling feature. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review Audience Member Life is not the beautiful dream you've always wanted it to be. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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