We have been crazy about Tsai Ming-liang’s Days for quite a while—premiering at Berlin 2020, which will go down as the last gasp of film culture as we knew it before COVID completely rewrote the rules, will do that. Thus the movie’s occupied a nether region since: those who saw Days managed to land it on our best of 2020 list, while the rest of us call it one of the best 2021 films we’ve already seen. Having caught it on the festival circuit and being stunned yet again by Tsai’s complete, total mastery of a form oft-imitated but never bested, I dare call these lines arbitrary. What in fact matters is that Grasshopper Film will finally release Days (in theaters, as it should be seen) on August 13. Thus the U.S. trailer is here to set a distinctly Tsai-ian tone.
Much like Days itself, this lacks subtitles, instead evoking urban sprawl, natural force, and and personal decay with the most gorgeous of long shots and natural light. Safe to say that those liking what they see here will take the film wholesale, though there’s more to discover in Lee Kang-sheng’s typically extraordinary presence and the remarkable effects of newcomer Anong Houngheuangsy. Either way, prepare for one of 2021’s true masterpieces.
Find the preview and poster below, while our interview with Tsai is here:
Under the pain of illness and treatment, Kang (Lee Kang-sheng) finds himself adrift. He meets Non (Anong Houngheuangsy) in a foreign land. They find consolation in each other before parting ways and carrying on with their days. The latest film from Tsai Ming-liang (Goodbye Dragon Inn, Stray Dogs, The Wayward Cloud), Days marks yet another masterwork in one of contemporary cinema’s most extraordinary careers.
