About

Drought is afflicting Taiwan. In lieu of water, newscasters encourage the population to drink watermelon juice. Returning from overseas to this heat and desperate thirst is Shiang-chyi (Chen Shiang-chyi). She reconnects with one-time watch seller Hsiao-kang (Lee Kang-sheng) and they begin a relationship, while, unbeknownst to her, he has started a new career as a pornographic actor.

Picking up narrative threads from Tsai Ming-liang’s earlier What Time Is It There? 2001 and The Skywalk is Gone 2002, The Wayward Cloud is at times tender and wry, sometimes colourful and extravagant (as in its lively musical interludes) and, by the end, perhaps the director’s most harrowing depiction of the distance that can exist between people. The film is presented here in its new 4K digital restoration, which premiered at the 2024 Berlinale.

Please note: this films contains highly impactful scenes of sexual violence.