The flesh of the watermelon
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The flesh of the watermelon |
| Original title | Chinese 天邊 一 朵雲 / 天边 一 朵云 , Pinyin tiānbiān yī duǒ yún |
| Country of production | Taiwan , France |
| original language | Mandarin |
| Publishing year | 2005 |
| length | 115 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Tsai Ming-liang |
| script | Tsai Ming-liang |
| production | Bruno Pésery |
| camera | Liao Pen-young |
| cut | Chen Sheng-chang |
| occupation | |
| |
The meat of the watermelon ( Chinese 天邊 一 朵雲 / 天边 一 朵云 , Pinyin tiānbiān yī duǒ yún , also The Wayward Cloud ) is a French-Taiwanese surreal love film with musical elements by the Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang .
The film was Taiwan's official nominee for Best Foreign Language Film at the 78th Annual Academy Awards .
action
Taiwan's capital Taipei is plagued by an unusually long dry spell with summer temperatures resulting in an ubiquitous water shortage. The government then declared a water emergency and called on the population to use the abundant watermelons instead of drinking water .
Single Korean woman Shiang-chyi is returning from the French capital for one summer amid the heat wave. The drought forces Shiang-chyi to steal water or drink watermelon juice at work. At a leisure facility in the megacity, she met her ex-boyfriend Hsiao-kang, a former watch seller, by chance. At this point in time, the young woman did not know that her former boyfriend was earning his living as a porn actor in the same apartment complex, exactly two floors above her . With a minimalist film crew, the young man shoots extremely low-budgeted porn films with a Japanese woman in all imaginable positions and preferably with bowler hats.
A delicate romance gradually develops between Shiang-chyi and Hsiao-kang. However, when the young woman learns what profession her beloved is doing, she turns away from him without further ado. Finally she overcomes herself and helps him on a bizarre porn shoot.
Reviews
The lexicon of international films wrote that the film was an “exuberant cinema fantasy” , which presented “ an existential emptiness and a deep loneliness” with “drastic images” .
Awards
- Golden Horse Film Festival 2005 (Taipei)
- Nominations in the categories "Best Film" and "Best Director"
- Alfred Bauer Prize for Tsai Ming-liang
- FIPRESCI Prize for Tsai Ming-liang
- Silver Bear in the " Outstanding Artistic Achievement " category
- Nomination for Golden Bear
Web links
- The Wayward Cloud in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Presentation of the film at ARTE
Individual evidence
- ↑ The meat of the watermelon. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .