This is a strange and compelling film about – I’m not very sure what. What I do know is that Taiwan is experiencing a massive drought, watermelons have become portals into a woman’s vagina, and there is a lot of sex. A woman named Shiang-chyi is attracted to an old friend named Hsiao-Kang(or maybe he’s an ex? or a complete stranger?) who happens to be an actor in pornographic films. I wouldn’t be surprised if Hsiao-Kang’s porno scenes were figments of Shiang-chyi’s imagination. Oh, and there are also 4 or 5 musical numbers spread throughout the film, some where characters are now dragons, or penises, or lost in a field of watermelon umbrellas.
Not to mention a couple of ant attacks. This is a very surreal film that is mostly very entertaining, but I didn’t feel anything for any of the characters, and I wasn’t completely wowed by the intentionally campy showstopper songs. I did laugh quite a bit, and found the whole film to be pretty well paced. This is the first film that I have seen by Tsai, who is supposedly one of the true masters of contemplative cinema working today, so hopefully some of his other films carry a little more weight.