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The first leading role of Tsai's inseparable collaborator Lee Kang-sheng, this telefilm is a study in the underlying causes and rippling effects of bullying and abuse. Lee stars as a student who bullies a younger boy. Their lives are unknowingly both marked by neglect at home; Lee's parents mistreat him, while his victim's parents are disinterested in their son's life. As time wears on, the circle of violence expands in unexpected ways. Shot in a style more realist than Tsai's later works, it nevertheless foreshadows the emergence of a talent that would fully bloom with the following year's Rebels of the Neon God.