YOUR FACE

Some of Tsai’s subjects nod off. Some seem a little mystified. Others are amused. One guy talks about pachinko. Tsai’s film presents us with facial expressions, whether settled or animated, and existing in time - not the split-second of a photograph, but the face observed in time, the face in duration. Who are these people? Just as the audience starts to fill in the mysterious identities behind the faces using their imagination, Tsai nudges his subjects with questions, revealing a variety of narratives (although it’s around twenty minutes in before anyone really speaks at length).

For the first time in 20-odd years of filmmaking, Tsai has incorporated music into his work. A blend of Eastern and Western ambient tunes, written by Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, ebb in and out of the documentary, making the procession of weathered faces much easier to watch.

‘Your Face’ is an entry into the sub-genre of the arthouse film that some have called "slow cinema" and others refer to as "contemporary contemplative cinema", which has become more prominent in international film festivals.

Not every film needs to have a strong and well-plotted narrative, and not all of them need to be paced fast. Such is our attachment to the very widely accepted norm of the three-act narrative arc that we sometimes forget that films are not “filmed theatre” in the first place. Films can also simply be a sensory experience.

The dovetailing of form and content is what’s crucial, and some things need time to be explored and expressed properly. There’s no such thing as calling a slow film bad by default, because ultimately there are bad slow films and there are also good slow films. This is why sometimes patience can bring its very own special rewards, as slow (and sometimes very slow) films prove to those brave (and sometimes stoned) enough to give them a try.

In modern society, apps such as Calm are finding popularity, allowing you to find tranquillity for a few seconds within the day. Evidently, there is a desire for stillness and silence, taking time to find the beauty in the normalcy of life. These desires can be fulfilled in the cinema, as long as audiences are willing to change their narrative expectations and see film in a different way. Beyond its contemplation of human ageing, ‘Your Face’ creates portraits in time.