FFA WATCHLIST: Millenium Mambo

Filmfest Aachen presents the film series WATCHLIST - Every 1st Tuesday of the month.

Millennium Mambo / June 3 / 19.30 / OmeU / D. Hou Hsiao Hsien

Thanks to its re-release by distributor Rapid Eye Movies, Millennium Mambo was shown in cinemas again in 2023 - and seemed more relevant than ever. The Taiwanese film, long overshadowed by global cinema narratives, is currently experiencing a well-deserved renaissance thanks to rediscoveries such as Edward Yang's "Yi Yi". With vibrant images and a hypnotic soundtrack, Millennium Mambo tells of youth, love and self-destruction - unembellished, melancholy, uncompromising.

"This extraordinary work of cinematic art is one of the most sublime, captivating and beautifully crafted works ever to grace the big screen." (Film Threat)

A stylish and seductive immersion into the neon techno nightlife of Taipei. Hou's much misunderstood marvel stars Shu Qi (The Assassin) as an aimless bar hostess who drifts away from her boastful boyfriend and turns her attention to suave, sensitive gangster Jack Kao. Set as a flashback from the future of 2011 to the present, the film is a captivating trance movie drenched in club lights, ecstatic endorphin release and a nagging undertone of boredom.