In his latest films, Ming-Liang Tsai seems to shed all the superfluous elements. This recovery of the body (the real illness of actor Kang-sheng Lee) and of the spirit (the alienation in the city) is a challenge to the viewer which does not need dialogue to express a certain desolation, which is also a disease of our society. The director makes cinema more pure, but also more difficult to bear.

Actually, none/nada, but still captivating as we silently (except for a few scenes with background noise) follow two men as they live their days. We experience one's pain though heated acupuncture; acupressure; neck brace; very deep total body muscle tearing massage. For millions that day-to-day marginal existence defines their lives?

The first scenes is actually a good test. If you enjoy it, I think you'll love this movie. If not, I strongly advise you to stop there. The whole movie is indeed made of the same substance: long motionless sequence-shot. No action per so. No dialog.