Stray Dogs [Blu-ray]

Buyers beware! If you have not seen any of Tsai Ming-Liang's movies, this is not a good one to begin with. Start with Rebels of the Neon God if you're interested in him.Ming-Liang loves long shots, 20 minute shots, and minimal dialogue. Throughout his filmography he has reduced the use of dialogue. Leaving it up to the viewer to meditate on the movie.I love that you can project yourself into his movies. That being said, I had a hard time doing it while watching Stray Dogs. Mostly because I couldn't relate to the characters. But I could still feel the hopelessness of them in this saddening movie.The cinematography was quite the spectacle that helped carry the movie and keep interest. With his long time collaborator, Pen-Jung Liao, they created a tone and some shots that you'll never forget.The special features include an interview with Ming-Liang before a showing of Stray Dogs. As well as his film Journey to the West (Xi You). Which packs another two hours of watch time on top of the two hour movie.

If this is TSAI Ming-Liang's last feature film, he has in his unique way accomplished what has rarely been surpassed in the history of cinema. (Tsai announced his retirement from the feature-length films in 2013 Venice Film Festival.)Those who like Tsai's films know what to expect: minimal dialogues, obscure plot and extreme long and "static" takes, some of them stretching past the traditional 12-minute limit of the 35 mm film magazine. As in Tsai's all other feature films, LEE Kang-Sheng is the lead actor. The new twist Tsai adds to this film is to have the main female character played by three of his favorite actresses (YANG Kuei-Mei, LU Yi-Ching and CHEN Chiang-Chyi), much like what Luis Buñuel did in "That Obscure Object of Desire" almost four decades ago. Unlike Buñuel's film, however, the ages of these three actresses are more than 10 years apart and their appearances are sequential rather than alternating. This opens many new possibilities for interpretations.Winner of the Grand Jury Prize in 2013 Venice Film Festival, this is an emotionally powerful film. Scenes of despair alternate with ones of (quasi-)surrealism. Viewers who are able to resonate with the film's wavelength may feel the staggering beauty through Tsai's unblinking gaze. Tsai has always paid extreme attention to his cinematography and framing, but this time he tops himself. Its beautiful photography will surely linger in its viewers' minds.The Blu-Ray package includes a perspective essay by Jonathan Rosenbaum in the insert. Extras include Tsai's (non-feature-length) film "Journey to the West" (56 min) and Tsai's Master Class/Interview at the Cinémathèque Française (69 min, BD only).------------------P.S. Having seen all of Tsai's feature films and some of his shorts, I will put "Stray Dogs" alongside "Vive l'Amour" and "Goodbye, Dragon Inn" as my favorite films by Tsai.

Excellent quality on the blu-ray of Ming-Liang Tsai's film. Stray Dogs is a film about desolation and despair in modern times. Beautifuly shot, slow spaced with great emotional acting. Lee Kang-Sheng is as brilliant as usual. The extras are a delight too, Journey to the West is a master piece of digital cinema and the master class is really worth watching. Great material.

This is not a conventional narrative film. It's best to think of it as a series of loosely-connected performance art installations recorded on film. Whatever narrative there is, is intentionally left unarticulated and enigmatic, completely open to the viewer's interpretation and imagination.Some reviews compared it to Tarkovsky. Actually, this film makes the average Tarkovsky look as action-packed as Michael Bay.This is certainly a bold and serious contribution to experimental cinema. As for how effective it was, that's entirely subjective of course. For me it didn't work. It gets 3 stars mostly for some excellent cinematography, and clever use of sound to impart narrative momemtum (such as it is) when the imagery is so static and literally unblinking. (It's probably intended as a metaphor for the stagnation in the main character's life as the world around him moves on. But the idea sounds more interesting as an abstration than its actual execution.)

great product delivery

The reviews for this movie were very misleading, after buying it through amazon, i was looking forward to enjoy it but after watching the i realized how much i miss watching a 3 hours of dental surgery.avoid like cavities.

Masterpiece. The culmination of the Long Take from Ming Liang.

It is disjointed, illogical and goes exactly nowhere. The director must be a fool who expects the audience to have a single digit IQ. How many times does he have to show long drawn out scenes of his actors urinating? I'm sorry that I paid good money for this blue ray disc, my wife and I both tried hard to sit through this asinine film but we had to turn it off after suffering through it for not quite an hour. What a relief!

Note that this American blu ray is in fact region free. (you can look it up on www.blu-ray.com and www.dvdbeaver.com)Good austere art movie. Very haunting. Maybe even one of the best movies of the last ten years, as some people claim. But you have to be patient. The shot towards the end that is 14 minutes long admittedly goes into a territory that is close to self-parody. But apart from that it's a good movie.

Lovely film. With barely any dialect it tells a powerful story. Not the usual foreign film I would go for but heard good things and wasn’t disappointed.

Item arrived damaged

got what i paid for

Difficile dare un giudizio su questo dvd attraverso le stellette. “Stray Dogs” (titolo assegnato in occidente tentando forse di facilitare l’approccio del pubblico, dato che il titolo originale in cinese si traduce come “Escursione”) è l’ultimo lungometraggio del regista taiwanese di origine malese, uscito nel 2013, ed è il suo più radicale, certe riprese fisse sono fra le più lunghe della storia del cinema, e vederle in un piccolo schermo non è sicuramente il massimo. Mi immagino che viste al cinema, su grande schermo, sia molto più facile cogliere ogni minimo mutamento nell’espressione degli attori - a volte si scorgono, quasi impercettibilmente, negli occhi - e che quindi questi film si possano seguire più agevolmente, nel modo giusto, più intensamente. Così è comunque possibile apprezzare la bellezza di quasi tutte le inquadrature, anche quelle - assai numerose - di luoghi squallidi e desolati. Tsai Ming-liang inoltre, con i suoi collaboratori, satura i colori al massimo, e sono stupefacenti certi blu che quasi fiammeggiano nel buio. Film molto duro, che consiglierei a pochi. Idem per il mediometraggio “Journey to the west”, dominato dalle movenze incredibilmente lente di un monaco buddista impersonato dal solito straordinario Lee Kang-sheng, protagonista di tutti i suoi film, credo. Ciliegina sulla torta una lunga intervista a Tsai Ming-liang, che è molto simpatico e dice sorridendo cose spesso molto profonde sul suo cinema: come molti grandi artisti non si prende troppo sul serio. Ottima edizione New Wave, in versione originale sottotitolata in inglese. Peraltro, i dialoghi sono minimi, spesso del tutto assenti.