MILLENNIUM MAMBO

千禧曼波 | 2001 | Taiwan | Dir. Hsiao-Hsien Hou | 119 min | Mandarin with English subtitles

in Stories of Women - part of NFTS project 'Dilemma and Desire' - films that explore Chinese women’s unspoken desires under “traditional” social values.

 

CAST: Qi Shu, Jack Kao, Chun-hao Tuan

SYNOPSIS : A voice off-camera looks back ten years to 2000, when Vicky was in an on-again off-again relationship with Hao-Hao. She's young, lovely, and aimless. He's a slacker. Cigarettes and alcohol fuel her nights. We see bits of her life: when Hao-Hao steals his father's Rolex and the police detain them; when she gets a job as a club hostess, where she meets Jack, who becomes her patron and protector; when Hao-Hao comes to the club, insisting on talking to her; when she visits Yubari, Japan, for its film festival in the dead of winter; when Jack must go to Japan to straighten out trouble caused by one of his acolytes. Does Vicky have any expectations? Does time simply pass?