- dir. Midi Z
- year. 2016
- country. Thailand, Taiwan, Myanmar, France, Germany
- run-time. 108 mins
- rating. 15
£6.00 (£4.50 conc.)
Doors 19:00 - Film 20:00
A tale of doomed love between two illegal immigrants who resort to human traffickers to escape Myanmar into a less than welcoming Thailand…
Taiwan-based filmmaker Midi Z returns with his fourth feature, The Road to Mandalay, and arguably his best work to date. Continuing his preoccupation with exiles from Myanmar’s ethnic Chinese minority, this love story follows two illegal immigrants as they resort to human traffickers to help them cross the Mekong river over the border into a less than welcoming Thailand. As they reach Bangkok, Lianqing soon finds herself drifting from one worthless job to another, and she gets closer to fellow illegal immigrant Guo who she met on the journey. With her unwavering determination to obtain identity papers, she soon realises that her hopes for the future are far from his, and ultimately their love is doomed. The Road to Mandalay is a powerful portrait of the trials and tribulations of those seeking to escape conflict and poverty in Myanmar in search of a better life.
An eerie soundscape alongside dreamlike, and almost surreal sequences, amplify the disillusionment, displacement and alienation felt by the characters, while Midi Z’s regular actress Wu Ke-xi gives a striking performance, alongside Taiwanese star Kai Ko. The Road to Mandalay firmly places Midi Z among the top contemporary social realist filmmakers working in Asia today.
“★★★★ – A layered film that demands discussion and analysis from its viewers.”
“★★★★ – Compassionate and honestly told… a real empathy machine of a movie ”