A Cha-Cha for the Fugitive

Hard to say if the frenetic visuals are a reaction against most other Taiwanese cinema or merely a reflection of the director's own background in advertising. Either way, this chaotic, enervating first feature has a core of authentic emotion and commitment which makes it impossible to shrug off. A young male dancer with avant-garde leanings dreams of escaping to join a (male) lover in New York, works nights in a sleazy club and spends days failing to relate to his girlfriend in his studio atop a grungy apartment block. His confused thoughts about Taiwan, materialism, corrupt politicians and murderous gangsters hit the screen in shards of splintered imagery. Wang, who wrote, designed and shot the film, as well as directing, doesn't always avoid cliché, but he's definitely on to something real.