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無色 (No Form) 2012

Taking its title from the Buddhist Heart Sutra “Form is emptiness, emptiness is form”, this is the first in Tsai Ming-liang’s celebrated 'Walker' series. No Form follows Tsai’s long-term muse and collaborator Lee Kang-sheng, dressed in the robes of a Buddhist monk, walking at a profoundly slow pace through the bustling streets of Taipei. The Walker is modelled on the historical figure of Xuanzang, a 7th Century Chinese monk, scholar, and translator, who spent seventeen years walking to and from India.

Lee’s measured slowness contrasts with the heightened pace of the modern metropolis, his inward gaze making him seem like an egoless object, rather than a participant in the landscape he moves through. As Lee passes into a minimalist white cube space, the film becomes an ecstatic reflection on the tempo of existence.

20 minutes | All Ages

行者 (Walker) 2012

In the second iteration of the 'Walker' series, Tsai Ming-liang’s camera follows Lee Kang-sheng in his monk’s guise, clutching a bag of milk tea and a pineapple bun as he traverses the streets of Hong Kong at a glacial pace. Commissioned by the Hong Kong International Film Festival, Tsai’s exquisitely framed static shots not only record Lee’s stoic feat of unrelenting focus, but also form a candid portrait of street life, as pedestrians react to, or pass by, the extraordinary spectacle unfolding before them. Culminating in the cathartic consumption of the much-travelled bun – accompanied by a sentimental Cantopop song – Tsai’s deadpan humour is on full display.

24 minutes | All Ages