In director Tsai Ming-Liang’s subversive family drama, Hsiao-Kang gets roped into participating in a film shoot, in which he plays a dead body floating in the Tamsui River in Taipei. But the polluted water provokes a health crisis, as Hsiao-Kang is suddenly struck by debilitating neck pain.

With his parents unable to alleviate his discomfort, the son’s misery causes the troubled family unit to further disintegrate unveiling domestic secrets and repressed emotions. This controversial film which repelled some audiences on release, is a stunning work of slow cinema that offers a sly, queer critique of the nuclear family and the values it represents.

Screening as part of the Queer East touring Film Festival.