Good Bye, Dragon Inn

Good Bye, Dragon Inn is a farewell to cinema - literally and symbolically. We can see the last screening in a huge old cinema. The farewell film is a famous classical piece of Chinese cinematography Dragon Inn (Long men ke zhen) by King Hu from 1966. There are hardly any spectators, someone makes noise eating peanuts, some men search for casual partners, wandering in the labyrinth-like cinema, but there are also people emotionally gazing at the screen. The few spectators include Chun Shih and Miao Tien who appeared in the Dragon Inn. Tsai pays homage to them and to the passing cinema, but the context rends new meaning to their presence, because Miao Tien is the father of Hsiao-kang, presented in most films by Tsai, and the grandfather of the The Missing (Bu jian) by Lee Kang-sheng. This film is densely intertwined with Tsai's work, making them almost a single whole.

Tsai's minimalism is especially sophisticated here - this is probably the most static film by this director. The issue of passing and of time can be seen in each scene, at the end of a cigarette, in the usher and operator's longing, in silent contemplation of an empty cinema hall. The film is somehow blended with reality: Good Bye, Dragon Inn turned out to be a farewell to Miao Tien as well, as the actor died two years later.

Karolina Kosińska