LOVE IS A GUN
FILM SHEET
November 24th
4pm// Teatre Metropol
Director/ra: Lee Hong-Chi
81′ Taiwan. 2023
VOEEng & Cat
SYNOPSIS
Since his release from prison, “Sweet Potato” has been settling with running a small low-income beachfront business, trying to stay ‘clean’. As he continues to be haunted by the acts of the past, Maozi, a former colleague, reappears and offers him an opportunity for some ‘dirty’ work.
The director’s directorial debut as an actor (Thanatos, Drunk, 2015; Long Journey Into Night; 2018) is a powerful statement of intent with an enveloping, nostalgic and seductive aesthetic, putting him in the footsteps of Lee Chang-Dong or Wong Kar Wai.
With a casting of new voices (a gallery of quirky tough guys), lovers of contemporary Asian cinema have in front of them a “cult instant” for their showcases. With genre film costumes and a halo of mystery, “Ai shi yi ba qiang” is an almost Z-like millennial portrait, showing the doubts, convictions and contradictions of its generation.
Captivating and irredeemably cool, LOVE IS A GUN is an unusual film, with its own rules and an existential, visually intoxicating film noir feel.
Best Opera Prima at the Venice Film Festival
Spanish Premiere