Hou Hsiao-hsien’s hypnotic masterpiece plunges us into the techno-scored neon-lit nightlife of Taipei at the turn of the 21st century. Our guide for this nocturnal tour is Vicky; the film is structured from within her consciousness, remembering her life of ten years earlier, when she was working as a bar hostess. Leading a drifting, neon-lit existence and bored with her possessive DJ boyfriend, she finds herself gravitating towards a gangster named Jack. With long takes, slo-mo, and close-ups that linger on colours, lights and textures, Vicky’s memories of Taipei’s club scene are distilled into images of amazing radiance and the film as a whole has an appropriately druggy, trance-like feel.

Barbican Nightlife: Ourselves, Our Spaces on Film – Millennium Mambo