Tang Poetry (2003) dir. Lu Zhang

A middleaged pickpocket forced to retire by a nervous disease which causes his hands to shake spends all his time in his bare apartment, occasionally eavesdropping on a neighbour and watching TV programmes about Tang Dynasty poetry. His former apprentice, a young woman, daily tries to coax him back into action and suggests taking part in a major robbery. He silently coldshoulders her, but then a murder next door brings a stolen gun into the picture. Beyond the obvious irony there s an aesthetic point being made. In its careful, rigid compositions, its wry minimalism and its use of reflections, the film is reaching for the rigour and resonance of classical poetry. It s a worthy ambition, and Zhang succeeds in giving the film a real formal integrity. But the film is also very funny, in the slowburn, deadpan way that Tsai MingLiang films are funny.