The River

So uncommunicative that it feels like afundamental state, Hsiao-Kang lives under the same roof as his parents, who are strangers to one another. He frequently has sex with casual acquaintances. His mother is having an affair, while his father spends his free time seeking anonymous sex in Taipei’s gay saunas. He is also busy trying to plug an unstoppable water leak in the flat. After Hsiao-Kang plays the part of a drowned body as an extra on a film set, he feels an inexplicable, stabbing pain in his neck and sets off with his father in search of a miracle healer. A visually stunning, tragically beautiful and unsettling portrait of deep isolation within a family. (bik)