Kissing the Ground You Walked On

Once a writer, now an estate agent, Chou has not written a word for years. Chiang is a young actor, who rents a room in Chou’s apartment. A writer keen to ‘observe people’ who gets lost easily in fantasy worlds, and a performer who longs to be looked at, both on and off stage, the pair begin concealing their true selves behind stories they create and recreate. In the suffocating city heat, the lines between reality and fiction and dreams and desires become blurred. Adapting Anton Chekov’s "Seagull", Kissing the Ground You Walked On explores the play’s triangular dynamics through male protagonists, directly referencing it on several occasions. The international title is a line from the play, the original title translates to “the room where the seagull stayed”, and, of course, Chiang’s stage role is a seagull (Nina). Hong Heng-fai’s feature debut, meanwhile, relies more on sensual expression than words. Languidly paced, with image composition and sound design that allow the viewer to sample the sultriness, this poetry-play blurs the line between the one who looks and one looked at. Kissing the Ground You Walked On gaily winks at Tsai Ming-Liang’s lovers caught in a heatwave, while following its own path. (International Film Festival Rotterdam)