Rebels of the Neon God

In Tsai Ming-liang’s acclaimed and disturbing film on Taiwan’s urban youth subculture, the kids are so alienated from the older generation and its values that there is not even enough common ground for conflict. Hsiao-kang is virtually unable to carry on a conversation with his father, while his mother resorts to occult Taoism to interpret her son’s bewildering behavior. Hsiao-kang and friends make the best of their mazelike late-night world of motorcycles, video arcades, and petty crime, recognizing on some level that there is no way out. “No other director since Fassbinder has got inside young male anomie with such tenderness and warmth” (Tony Rayns).