Hou puts mesmerizingly beautiful Hong Kong starlet Shu Qi at the center of this episodic story of a Taipei club-hopper torn between her lethargic relationship with a part-time DJ and her attraction to an older rough-hewn gangster. Compared by critics to Wong Kar-wais IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (with Mark Lee Ping-bins sensuous cinematography a link between the two films), MILLENNIUM MAMBO is a key film in the late-career broadening of Hous range into more contempo and global directions. (BS) Screened in 2015 as part of Six Films by Hou Hsiao-hsien.
