Dust

From Viennale

Lee Kang-sheng continues to rack up the air miles as Tsai Ming-liang’s red-robe clad monk, with the globetrotting slow walker now touching down in the Basque Country. The Walker films began as filmed performances designed to illustrate slowness as a spiritual resistance to hypermodernity, but have blossomed into an unlikely franchise that instantiates Buddhist principles. Having reached film eleven in the Walkerverse with more in the pipeline, Tsai acknowledges how hard it is to find “something new each time,” lest the concept devolve into slow-cinema parody. WEICHEN’s “innovations” involve structural juxtapositions, including the urban and the rural, encompassing Basque country houses and the stunning Bay of Biscay coastline, modern architecture and farm animals. In between, Tsai shoots the Walker creeping past so many examples of northern Spain’s public art that he outs himself as a fan of Eduardo Chillida. Like all the Walker films, WEICHEN remains dialogue free, but music plays a surprising role, as, spoiler alert, the Walker even takes in a punk rock show. Tsai’s cultural tourism means there’s more to watch here than just walking, but not to worry, the elliptical WEICHEN still has more than a touch of Zen. (Mark Peranson)