A Chinese food delivery boy from Taiwan searches for his mother in New York with a photo of Marlene DIETRIH. His neighbor Wayne makes a living by cleaning payphones at night. Dumped by his girlfriend, Wayne tries to forget about her by following instructions from videotaped lessons. Living next door to each other, both get caught in the absurdity of life.

CHEN employs a flowing, humorous technique, connecting the delivery boy, his Chinese father, and a young white man, via the parallel stories of two wandering souls. He depicts the loneliness of a foreigner in search of tentative personal relationships and personal identity in a confusing modern metropolis. There are glimpses of the sparkling glow typical of TSAI Ming-liang’s early movies and an integration of the modernistic style of Edward YANG in his presentation of the barely discernable homosexual bonding, the transformation of gender images, and the alienation and loneliness of the urban space.

DVD source：Taiwan Cinema Toolkit, Ministry of Culture, R.O.C.