Days is one of those movies that you either hate and feel so bored or love and truly enjoy. It's like 2 h long with no dialogue, there's literally no conversation at all, and the shots are slow, motionless and long. I personally don't mind this genre and I did love this movie. Days is visually stunning, the cinematography is great with many amazing frames. It has no words but it has lots of vibes, it delivers lots of emotions about loneliness, affection, attachment, routine, etc. If you're into a beautiful silent visual cinematic experience then Days would be a perfect choice.
10 Reviews
Cinema without impurities
MiguelAReina31 January 2021
In his latest films, Ming-Liang Tsai seems to shed all the superfluous elements. This recovery of the body (the real illness of actor Kang-sheng Lee) and of the spirit (the alienation in the city) is a challenge to the viewer which does not need dialogue to express a certain desolation, which is also a disease of our society. The director makes cinema more pure, but also more difficult to bear.
This is pure Cinema
imursel1 March 2020
Tsai's most minimalist yet, but lacks concept
j-m-d-b19 August 2021
Tsai's films have been becoming more and more minimalist over time. Yet while his stories have always been very implicit, films such as Ai qing wan sui (1994), Bu san (2003) and the masterful Jiao you (2013) all have a message, a concept, a central idea. Even a extremely minimalist piece such as Xi you (2014) is very conceptual.
Rizi lacks in that regard, in my opinion. I can see how Tsai wanted to strip down a film even more than some of his other work, to get even closer to the essence, and this is to be applauded. At the same time it seems to me the film is an afterthought and not a premeditated work. From what I gather, Tsai had been shooting Kang-sheng Lee and Anong Houngheuangsy separately, without the goal of making a film.
Apparently he was then compelled to create a feature film after all and decided the center piece would be an encounter between the two men. Now, that encounter is filmed beautifully and while it has been described as erotic, I'd say above all it is a human encounter.
However the material before and after this central event is disconnected and does not have the same weight as provided by the performances in some Tsai's earlier films. One could argue that this disconnection is on purpose, but it just did not feel that way to me. It felt somewhat artificial.
Still, the two hours were a nice meditative experience, so if you are a slow cinema afficionado it's worth seeing. But it's no Stray Dogs or Goodbye Dragon Inn.
Rizi lacks in that regard, in my opinion. I can see how Tsai wanted to strip down a film even more than some of his other work, to get even closer to the essence, and this is to be applauded. At the same time it seems to me the film is an afterthought and not a premeditated work. From what I gather, Tsai had been shooting Kang-sheng Lee and Anong Houngheuangsy separately, without the goal of making a film.
Apparently he was then compelled to create a feature film after all and decided the center piece would be an encounter between the two men. Now, that encounter is filmed beautifully and while it has been described as erotic, I'd say above all it is a human encounter.
However the material before and after this central event is disconnected and does not have the same weight as provided by the performances in some Tsai's earlier films. One could argue that this disconnection is on purpose, but it just did not feel that way to me. It felt somewhat artificial.
Still, the two hours were a nice meditative experience, so if you are a slow cinema afficionado it's worth seeing. But it's no Stray Dogs or Goodbye Dragon Inn.
Film as a Film should be
hh-19016 April 2020
The Film is an onirious, dreamlike journey, it reminds of Tarkowskis Stalker or other great films outside the normal scale. You have to be patient until the end, although the long frames without camera movement and not much happening forces you in the seat and at one point you will be able maybe like an meditation to think about yourself. I also saw the film at it's Berlinale opening and I was also thinking what does this film or the director want to do with me? Get yourself on this journey to your inner self and you will not be disappointed.
Excessive Talking
westsideschl6 April 2022
Actually, none/nada, but still captivating as we silently (except for a few scenes with background noise) follow two men as they live their days. We experience one's pain though heated acupuncture; acupressure; neck brace; very deep total body muscle tearing massage. For millions that day-to-day marginal existence defines their lives?
Isn't for me
johnpierrepatrick2 September 2020
The first scenes is actually a good test. If you enjoy it, I think you'll love this movie.
If not, I strongly advise you to stop there. The whole movie is indeed made of the same substance: long motionless sequence-shot. No action per so. No dialog.
Who needs dialogues!
Marcus-Goldhahn30 December 2022
Warning: Spoilers
40 films, dark circles like after a night of drinking at Berghain. Many great and shocking films that still accompany my dreams today, 2 years after this 70th Berlinale. One of those films surprised me the most because it was different, and provocative - without being intrusive.
RIZI begins with a minute-long shot of a man looking out the window and watching the rain. The reflection of the glass front gives us an impression of what is happening. It's raining, the wind plays with the trees as if they were an orchestra. Very little happens and at the same time a lot. We feel the loneliness and the need for love in such a gentle yet impressive way that the anxiety is at the same time the liberation.
The courage with which director Tsai Ming-Liang faces us is rewarded. RIZI manages without dialogue. 2 hours of film, told solely through facial expressions and gestures, embedded in the city life of Bangkok. Despite or perhaps because of the lack of dialogue, we understand the emotional life of our main character very well. The viewer becomes an emotional observer of two men who is looking for love and security, without judging. Two people who are looking for belonging in such a complex, fast and complicated world. A night in which two people can escape their every day worries.
RIZI is a film that surprised and gripped me because it stimulated my imagination and tore me out of the daily world for two hours without dialogue.
RIZI begins with a minute-long shot of a man looking out the window and watching the rain. The reflection of the glass front gives us an impression of what is happening. It's raining, the wind plays with the trees as if they were an orchestra. Very little happens and at the same time a lot. We feel the loneliness and the need for love in such a gentle yet impressive way that the anxiety is at the same time the liberation.
The courage with which director Tsai Ming-Liang faces us is rewarded. RIZI manages without dialogue. 2 hours of film, told solely through facial expressions and gestures, embedded in the city life of Bangkok. Despite or perhaps because of the lack of dialogue, we understand the emotional life of our main character very well. The viewer becomes an emotional observer of two men who is looking for love and security, without judging. Two people who are looking for belonging in such a complex, fast and complicated world. A night in which two people can escape their every day worries.
RIZI is a film that surprised and gripped me because it stimulated my imagination and tore me out of the daily world for two hours without dialogue.
Awful. Avoid at all costs
manuelespinogo2 November 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Impossible to understand how this movie can be rated with more than 1.
A looks into the void, B cooks a lot, A takes an odd accupunture session, B eats and takes a shower, A goes to a hotel , B waits in a market, A prepares the hotel room, and endless massage between A and B in the hotel room with happy ending, A and B talk and eat together before returning to their exciting lives, B cooking, A walking, A sleeping, more staring into the void by A, B waiting for the bus.
No dialogues or músic, no real story to justify 2 hours of torture, no deep message, no poetry, no art, no cinema. Nothing in here, just a extremely boring piece of artsy waste of time.
This brief encounter wouldn't even be suitable for a 5-min short. However, this movie lasts 2 hours! Supposedly, the brilliant idea is to remind us how boring life is by watching pure boredom for 2 hours: days going by endlessly doing our monotonous chores, once in a while a brief encounter with someone makes us feel alive, but we invariably return to the utter boredom of life.
I'd prefer if cinema helped me to fill the endless and tedious days of my life with entertaining movies, instead of boring me to death with things like this dreadful flick.
A looks into the void, B cooks a lot, A takes an odd accupunture session, B eats and takes a shower, A goes to a hotel , B waits in a market, A prepares the hotel room, and endless massage between A and B in the hotel room with happy ending, A and B talk and eat together before returning to their exciting lives, B cooking, A walking, A sleeping, more staring into the void by A, B waiting for the bus.
No dialogues or músic, no real story to justify 2 hours of torture, no deep message, no poetry, no art, no cinema. Nothing in here, just a extremely boring piece of artsy waste of time.
This brief encounter wouldn't even be suitable for a 5-min short. However, this movie lasts 2 hours! Supposedly, the brilliant idea is to remind us how boring life is by watching pure boredom for 2 hours: days going by endlessly doing our monotonous chores, once in a while a brief encounter with someone makes us feel alive, but we invariably return to the utter boredom of life.
I'd prefer if cinema helped me to fill the endless and tedious days of my life with entertaining movies, instead of boring me to death with things like this dreadful flick.
Waste of time
canerbaskurt11 March 2021
Basically, nothing happens in the movie. If i record my daily life under covid restrictions it would be a more interesting movie. I was able to watch it on 2X fast-forward and the scenes were still ridiculously long.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
