sinethetamagazine:Journey to the West dir. Tsai Mingliang. 2014. Journey to the West is a testament
sinethetamagazine:Journey to the West dir. Tsai Mingliang. 2014. Journey to the West is a testament to Malaysian-Chinese filmmaker Tsai Mingliang’s appreciation of the avant-garde; it is a twenty-five minute work consisting of twenty-one sequences of the Walker, a monk garbed in brilliant crimson robes, moving slowly through different locations in Hong Kong over the course of a day. The Walker is always juxtaposed with the vibrant clamor of human activity, standing out amongst the crowds with his nearly imperceptible barefoot steps. The Walker gains an unexpected acolyte, French actor Denis Lavant, who follows him and mimics his slow, measured pace. Tsai has mentioned interest in developing a productive “ethics of slowness,” perhaps an atonement for the human sins of both reckless impatience and lethargic indolence. Journey to the West deviates from the social expectation that movies provide a consumerist form of entertainment, as the Walker and his haunting steps traverse the boundaries of traditional cinema. -- source link