"Millennium Mambo" A flower running at the speed of sound, chasing fragments of the night

"Millennium Mambo" synopsis

Taipei in 2001, just after the new century. Vicky, who lives with her boyfriend Hao, is fed up with him, who doesn't work and spends every night drinking, The Game, and going to clubs. Vicky takes refuge with Gao, whom she meets at a hostess job out of necessity, but Gao gets caught up in a dispute and leaves for Japan...

Index

• Shards of the Night
• Meeting with Suu Kyi
• Flowers of Taipei
• The speed of sound of youth is stalling in the city

Shards of the Night

It begins not with words but with neon light. Director Hou Hsiao-hsien's ``Millennium Mambo'' (2001) begins with a legendary first scene that celebrates the dawn of a new century. A beautiful shot that follows Vicky (Su Kyi) from behind as she walks through a long tunnel. Slow motion. A night colored with blue neon lights. Vicky is a flower of the night, a fragment of the night. Vicky, who is smoking while walking, occasionally looks back at the camera and smiles. Vicky takes light steps like a butterfly who has gained freedom. Four-on-the-floor electronic music by Tsuyoshi Hayashi plays. The audience's eyes follow the enchanting butterfly of the night, Vicky. The world 10 years from now, her voice from 2011 is overlaid there. A voice from the future. Vicky talks about herself from 10 years ago in the third person, referring to her as "her." Will the person from 10 years ago be a "stranger" to the future Vicky? “I am a stranger.” Vicky's voice from the future precedes all events depicted in this work. However, there is no depiction of what Vicky will look like 10 years from now.

Vicky in 2001 lives a very ephemeral life. She endures the relentless surveillance of her lover Hao. But she is unable to leave him. Cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, boredom, silence, and outbursts of anger. Vicky's way of life seems destructive. Just as the Zhongshan Viaduct in Keelung, the location of the legendary first scene, was demolished afterwards, it is unclear whether she exists in the world ten years later.

"Millennium Mambo" preview

Vicky, who seems to be disappearing at any moment, drifts through the Taipei night of 2001. Hou Hsiao-hsien gives freedom to Vicky Suu Kyi. Vicky moves around innocently, as if the camera frame never existed in the first place. Magical camera work by master cinematographer Li Pingping. It's as if the camera is having fun dancing with Vicky.

Hou Hsiao-hsien's 21st century film begins with Vicky Suu Kyi. The first scene of this work clearly announces this. No one can stop her spirit from spreading throughout the neon city. No one can suppress it. Vicky is a neon and sonic flower.

Meeting with Suu Kyi