DAYS (B+) - Tsai Ming-Liang, the Taiwan-based master of slow cinema, returns to his turn-of-the-century roots for a spare tale of loneliness and bonding among two souls across a distance. And he leans on his regular muse, Lee Kang-Sheng, for the charisma to pull off what is essentially a short story expanded to feature length (a full two hours).
Lee plays Kang, who lives alone in a sprawling house in Taiwan and suffers from neck pain. We meet him in long static takes -- Tsai likes to put his camera in the corner of a room, usually at a low angle, and just let it run -- where Kang smokes or broods. We see him get a fiery acupuncture treatment in town. Meantime, in Bangkok, Thailand, Non (Anong Houngheuangsy) lives a spartan existence in a rundown apartment. He usually is seen preparing vegetables and cooking dinner. (Jeanne Dielman's meat loaf has nothing on this movie.)
Eventually, the two men will meet when Kang seeks out massage therapy to treat his chronic pain. Finally, the film bursts to life, as Tsai shows us what can happen when pain and alienation meet the simple touch of another human being. The pivotal scene at first might seem shocking, or it might seem wholly natural.
Kang pays Non not only with money but with a token gift, a tiny music box. That trinket won't leave Non's backpack, and it will appear again in a heartbreaking/heartwarming final scene that, like the other images, is both routine and profound. If you have the patience for slow-motion storytelling, you'll appreciate a masterful tale of fundamental human connection.
WILD INDIAN (B) - This debut feature from writer-director Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr. is powerful stuff, but too often it stumbles into TV movie-of-the-week territory albeit while usually avoiding the pitfalls of horror-revenge tropes.
Two cousins growing up on the reservation in Wisconsin share a secret tragedy: out in the woods, troubled, abused Makwa takes the rifle that Teddo grabbed from his father's closet and randomly shoots a classmate out of jealousy. The boys bury the body and carry the secret into adulthood. Flash forward, and we see Makwa, now Michael, succeeding in a white world with an executive position and the Nordic wife he always coveted, and it is Teddo, who abetted but did not kill, emerging from prison after a 10-year stint for selling drugs, his own life having collapsed.
This twist on the fates of the two men is a fascinating premise. Teddo (Chaske Spencer, brimming with passion and emotion) needs to exorcise this demon, and he endeavors to track down Makwa (Michael Greyeyes) who is now a block of granite, resentful of his upbringing and heritage. This showdown doesn't come until the final third, after Corbine meticulously establishes the characters in their own right. The two men are such complete opposites -- self-hating Makwa is beyond stoic, while tortured Teddo might burst at any moment -- that the whole production teeters on the edge of caricature.
But it never crashes over into pathos. Instead, Corbine and his two stars (aided with some B-level movie names, Jesse Eisenberg and Kate Bosworth) delve into the twin themes of guilt and culture, crafting this thoughtful suspense film.
BONUS TRACK
A simple melody central to "Days" is the delicate "Terry's Theme" from Charlie Chaplin's "Limelight":
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