A young man develops severe neck pain after swimming in a polluted river for a movie shoot, but nobody can provide him any relief.
Direction
Tsai's static long takes force you to sit with discomfort.
Cinematography
Glistening filth—Taipei never looked this beautifully toxic.

Director
Tsai Ming-liang
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Lee Kang-sheng's actual chronic neck pain inspired the entire screenplay—method acting taken to its logical extreme.
Part of Tsai's 'water trilogy'; the polluted Tamsui River here mirrors Taiwan's rapid industrialization and moral contamination.