Alienation and anxiety seem to take on special meaning as director Lin Cheng-Sheng follows Edward Yang and Tsai Ming-Liang around the streets of Taipei. Lin′s Taipei is a dark and depressing city where healthy relationships are something of a novelty. A family falls apart and its members all go their separate ways. Although they each seem to be living out unstable and unhappy lives, none of them attempt, nor appear to have the desire to do anything about it. After being discharged from the military, Chuen-Sheng steals from his father and roams the streets, eventually becoming involved with Mei-Li, a prostitute. His sister, Ah-Fen, separates with her husband. Their father simply exists from day to day, leading a ghost-like existence. Ah-Fen′s distant but cordial relationship with Mei-Li offers a glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak depiction of human relationships, but ultimately, the film remains as an unblinking portrayal of the fragile nature of the ties which bind these urbanites together. (Kim Ji-Seok)