Neil Young / Bernard Shakey on the set of GREENDALE
GREENDALE (Bernard Shakey, 2004)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at Third St.
April 17-23
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com
neilyoung.com
Greendale, Neil Young’s “musical novel” about a small American town encountering a few troubles — including drugs, corporate greed, extramarital doings, the murder of a police officer, and a little red devil — is simplistic, amateurish, silly, and a lot of fun. The music, especially “Falling from Above,” “Devil’s Sidewalk,” and “Bandit,” is awesome, featuring Young’s soaring guitar and the solid backing of Crazy Horse. There’s no dialogue in the film, just the characters lip-synching to Young’s singing. With Greendale, Young has created his own little world, and for nearly ninety minutes, it’s a pleasure to be a part of it. The direction is credited to Young’s alter ego, Bernard Shakey, who is enjoying a weeklong retrospective at the IFC Center, consisting of a 35mm print of Greendale, a digital restoration of the director’s cut of Human Highway, the twentieth-anniversary of Dead Man (with director Jim Jarmusch participating in a postscreening discussion on April 23 at 7:00), a high-definition digital projection of Journey Through the Past, a 35mm print of Year of the Horse (with Jarmusch at the IFC Center for the 9:45 screening on April 23), and other musical journeys starring Young, who continues to make vibrant music as he heads toward seventy.
Malaysian-born Taiwanese filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang’s What Time Is It There? is one heck of an existential hoot. When his father (Miao Tien) dies, Hsiao-kang (Lee Kang-sheng), who sells watches on the street in Taipei, becomes obsessed with a series of things: a strange woman (Chen Shiang-chyi) who insists on buying Hsiao-kang’s own watch and then leaves for Paris; Truffaut’s The 400 Blows (Tsai’s “all-time favorite film”); urinating in whatever is near his bed instead of going to the bathroom; and changing clocks to Paris time. Meanwhile, his mother (Lu Yi-ching) is determined to follow ridiculous rituals to bring her husband back, and the woman in Paris (Cecilia Yip) goes through a number of bizarre events as well. There is not a single camera movement in the film (except for in the 400 Blows film clips); the scenes are shot by Benoît Delhomme in long takes, often lingering before and after any action — when there is any action. The dialogue is spare, ironic, and hysterical. If you like your movies straightforward and linear, then this is not for you, but we loved this absolute riot of a film. And yes, that person sitting on the bench in the cemetery is exactly who you think it is. One of several Tsai films in which Lee portrays a version of Hsiao-kang, What Time Is It There? is screening April 24 at 7:00 as part of the Museum of the Moving Image’s fourteen-film tribute to Tsai’s career; other upcoming films include 
If you’re going to make a movie with the awesome title Rebels of the Neon God, it better be a damn fine, supercool, unusual, even rebellious film. And that’s exactly what Malaysian-born Taiwanese filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang’s debut feature is, a damn fine, supercool, unusual, and rebellious film about teen angst and urban alienation in a changing Taipei. Written and directed by Tsai, who went on to make such other stunners as The River, The Hole, Vive l’Amour, and What Time Is It There?, among others, Rebels of the Neon God is a slowly paced minimalist tale of interrelated characters who come together in fascinating, unexpected ways. Lee Kang-sheng, whom Tsai discovered smoking a cigarette on the street (for the television piece Kids), stars as Hsiao-kang, a teenager who has decided to cash out of cram school without telling his parents. His father (Tien Miao), a cabdriver, and his mother (Lu Yi-ching), a spiritualist who believes that her son is the reincarnation of the rebel protection deity Nezha, don’t know what to do with their extremely quiet son, who seems to have little interest in life except for going to video arcades. Meanwhile, Ah Tze (Chen Chao-jung) is living an odd life himself, stealing change from public phone booths and becoming friendly with a young woman, Ah Kuei (Wang Yu-wen), who slept with his brother, Ah Bing (Jen Chang-bin). One afternoon, Ah Tze and Ah Kuei are on a scooter when they pull alongside Hsiao-kang and his father in a cab, and after getting honked at for blocking a lane, Ah Bing smashes the father’s side-view mirror, a deed that Hsiao-kang decides is not going to go unpunished.