Like the Royal Theater in The Last Picture Show and the title movie house in Cinema Paradiso, the Fu-Ho is shutting down for good. The Fu-Ho’s valedictory screening is King Hu’s 1967 wuxia epic Dragon Inn, playing to a motley smattering of spectators. The standard grievances persist: patrons snack noisily and remove their shoes, treating this temple of cinema like their living room. The sense that moviegoing as a communal experience is slipping away takes on a powerful and painful resonance. Yet Tsai Ming-liang’s Goodbye, Dragon Inn is too multifaceted to collapse into a simple valentine to the age of pre-VOD cinephilia. A minimalist where King Hu was a maximalist, preferring long, static shots and sparse use of dialogue, Tsai rises to the narrative challenges he sets for himself and offers the slyest, most delicate of character arcs (the manager, a woman with an iron brace on her leg, embarks on a torturous odyssey to deliver food to the projectionist, played by Lee Kang-sheng). By the time the possibility arises that the theater is haunted, we’ve already identified it as a space outside of time—indeed, two stars of Hu’s original opus, Miao Tien and Shih Chun, watch their younger selves with tears in their eyes, past and present commingling harmoniously and poignantly. 4K Restoration by CINEMATEK, the Royal Film Archive of Belgium.

For thoughts on Goodbye, Dragon Inn, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:

[youtube https://youtu.be/ZKxNTPdeCv4?si=cVcgN_vEh1p8OtI7&t=5089]

Video Quality

Goodbye, Dragon Inn comes to Blu-Ray with a terrific new digital AVC encoded 1080p transfer in its original 1.85:1 original aspect ratio derived from a 4K restoration by Cinematek. This new restoration gives the film its proper presentation with a finessed grain structure that resolves evenly without getting clumpy or noisy. Print damage and other flaws have been eradicated, and overall clarity and detail are terrific. Black levels are robust with good detail in shadows and next to nothing in the way of crush. The story offers up only the world inside of this theater, and this transfer reveals discrete details within every bit of production design, clothing, and scenery. Metrograph Pictures and Kino Lorber have delivered a top-tier presentation for this feature.

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray disc comes with an excellent DTS-HD 5.1 and 2.0 Master Audio track in the original Mandarin with optional English subtitles. The minimal amount of dialogue stays grounded clearly in the center channel of the mix without being drowned out by competing sounds. The sounds of the movie playing within the theater are the most prominent element, but there are some competing environmental sounds throughout that are rendered admirably alongside everything else. The track does not experience any instances of age-related wear and tear. This audio presentation is precisely rendered for a fantastic sonic experience.

Special Features

Audio Commentary: Film critic Phoebe Chen provides a great commentary track in which she discusses the career of Tsai Ming-liang, how this fits into his output, analysis of the visual composition, the themes on display, the visual motifs, and more that aids in your appreciation of the film.

Light (2019): An 18-minute short film from Tsai Ming-liang is provided here that lovingly showcases a theatrical space.

Introduction to Goodbye, Dragon Inn by Film Critic Nick Pinkerton: A nearly seven-minute introduction in which the film critic discusses some of the themes and motifs of the film.

Re-Release Trailer: This disc provides the two-minute Re-Release trailer.

Final Thoughts

Goodbye, Dragon Inn is a slow and engrossing slice of slow cinema from Taiwanese auteur Tsai Ming-liang. The relative lack of actual plot may be a major deterrent for more casual audience members, but a lot is going on within the walls of this cinema, especially from a shot composition perspective. You get small, somewhat surreal moments with these characters that are hard to shake once you have been lulled into the gentle rhythms of this piece. The film does not overstay its welcome, and it challenges you in a really rewarding manner. Metrograph Pictures and Kino Classics have delivered a Blu-Ray with an excellent A/V presentation and an informative couple of supplements. If you are a fan of meditative international cinema, this is worth seeking out. Recommended

Goodbye, Dragon Inn will be available to purchase on Blu-Ray and Digital on December 12, 2023.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Metrograph Pictures and Kino Lorber have supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.