A stylish and seductive submersion into the techno-scored neon nightlife of Taipei, Hou Hsiao-Hsien's much-misunderstood marvel stars Shu Qi ('The Assassin') as an aimless bar hostess drifting away from her blowhard boyfriend and towards Jack Kao’s suave, sensitive gangster. Structured as a flashback to the then-present from the then-future of 2011, it’s a transfixing trance-out of a movie, drenched in club lights, ecstatic endorphin-rush exhilaration, and a nagging undercurrent of ennui.
