On a dark, rainy night, a historic and regal Taipei cinema screens its final film before closing down for good: 1967 martial arts feature “Dragon Inn”. As the film plays, the lives of the theatre’s various employees and patrons intersect, and two ghostly actors arrive to mourn the passing of an era. A poignant and lyrical meditation on the passing of time and the absorbing power of film, now widely regarded as a modern classic of slow cinema.

Reviews

‘Tsai Ming-Ling’s bitter-sweet Goodbye Dragon Inn isn’t easy to categorise: an exercise in cinematic minimalism, it’s a ghost story, a deadpan comedy, and a lament for an earlier era of film-going.’
Tom Dawson, BBC

‘Its simple, meticulously composed frames are full of mystery and feeling; it’s an action movie that stands perfectly still.’
A.O. Scott, The New York Times