Cinematographer Hsiang Chienn’s directorial debut comes to us fresh from festival screenings at Vancouver, Locarno and London Film Festivals.
After losing her job as a garment worker, Ling sees her prospects dim dramatically: in her mid-forties, she lives in a small, dilapidated apartment in the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung and spends much of her time locked in arguments with her combative daughter or looking after her frail mother who is in hospital. On one of her many visits to the ward she notices an injured man and tentatively starts to care for him.
A moving portrait of Ling’s struggle with loneliness and impending middle age, Exit charts her developing bond with the man, the relationship reverberating with exquisite, almost erotic tenderness. The film is a triumph of understated emotion and features a magnetic central performance from Shiang-Chyi Chen (best know from her work with Tsai Ming-Liang) who recently fought off stiff competition from Chinese superstars Gong Li and Tang Wei to win best actress at Golden Horse Film Festival for her role.