Good Bye, Dragon Inn (2003) Bu san (original title)

Director:

Ming-liang Tsai

Writers:

Ming-liang Tsai (writer)
Sung Hsi (additional narrative)

Release Date:

21 July 2004 (France)

Genre:

Drama | Comedy

Plot:

On a dark, wet night a historic and regal Chinese cinema sees its final film. Together with a small handful of souls they bid "Goodbye, Dragon Inn."

Plot Keywords:

Tourist | Japanese Tourist | Japanese | Rain | Boy

Awards:

10 wins & 9 nominations

Cast

Kang-sheng Lee	...	Hsiao-Kang
Shiang-chyi Chen	...	Ticket Woman
Kiyonobu Mitamura	...	Japanese tourist
Tien Miao	...	Himself
Chun Shih	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chao-jung Chen
Kuei-Mei Yang	...	Peanut Eating Woman

Directed by
Ming-liang Tsai

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Sung Hsi		additional narrative
Ming-liang Tsai		writer

Produced by
Ai-Lun Chu	....	line producer
Hung-Chih Liang	....	producer
Vincent Wang	....	producer

Cinematography by
Pen-jung Liao

Film Editing by
Sheng-Chang Chen

Production Management
Yi-Chieh Chiu	....	associate production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Vincent Wang	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Sheng-Nan Chang	....	set designer
Kuo-Chih Hung	....	assistant decorator

Sound Department
Du-Che Tu	....	sound
Tse Kang Tu	....	boom operator

Camera and Electrical Department
Lee Lung-Yue	....	gaffer
Sung Wen-Chung	....	first assistant camera

Other crew
Jie-Yao Chen	....	script supervisor
Chong-kai Huang	....	distribution and marketing
Bo-Tsun Kuo	....	distribution and marketing
Yu-Jiun Liu	....	distribution and marketing
Harold Manning	....	french adaptation
Hsin Yin Sung	....	japanese language translator
Jia-Ling Sung	....	distribution and marketing coordinator

Production Companies

• Homegreen Films

Distributors

• Diaphana Films (France) (theatrical)
• Wellspring Media (2004) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Homegreen Films (worldwide)
• Slovenska Kinoteka (2004) (Slovenia) (all media)

Also Known As:

"Bu san" - Taiwan (original title)
"Goodbye, Dragon Inn" - USA (DVD box title)

Runtime:

82 min | Argentina:84 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente)

Country:

Taiwan

Language:

Mandarin

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Singapore:PG

Company:

Homegreen Films

Trivia:

The theater used for the film was actually on the brink of being closed, and shortly before the film was released it was indeed closed, in an strange example of life imitating art.

Quotes:

Shih Chun:Teacher Miao. Shih-Chun.
[pause]
Shih Chun:Teacher, you came to see the movie?
Tien Miao:I haven't seen a movie in a long time.
Shih Chun:No one goes to the movies anymore, and no one remembers us anymore.

Movie Connections:

References The Eye (2002)

Soundtrack:

Chong Feng

Hard work even for the most committed movie-goer

Seeing this as part of the London Film Festival I had few expectations of the movie and was initially pleased to see the large cinema was a almost a sell-out. However, by the end of this 82 minute feature approximately a quarter of the audience had walked out and to be honest I am surprised that so many remained. Bravely, the film appears to ignore most conventions for film-making; dialogue, narrative and character development are rarely in evidence. The long still shots and selective use of sound (focusing primarily on footsteps and 'small' sounds from within the scene) created an eerie atmosphere but the film's content failed to capitalise on this platform to generate further interest in the characters or development of the themes.

Other films and directors (Tarkovsky) have created genuinely unique movies which have required significant commitment from the audience. However, on this occasion the director strays too far, the film demands too much from the viewer and offers scant return for this time. It reminded me of the experience of seeing a Russian film of the early 90s, The Stone (dir Sokurov), both these films require significant concentration and commitment from their viewers yet for me they both signify the excesses of arthouse cinema.