A largely unknown masterpiece of Taiwanese cinema, exquisitely filmed by the cameraman of In the Mood for Love. Russian premiere of the restored version as part of the Still Life. Portrait. Landscape. Genre Beside Itself programme.
Registration opens three weeks before the screening
The Dull Ice Flower
- Date:
- 7 Feb 2027,
18:00–19:55
Registration opens three weeks before the screening
- Age restrictions
- 18+
Lu bing hua
1989, Yang Li-kuo
Taiwan
100 minutes, Mandarin with Russian subtitles
Starring: Yu Han, Chen Sung-young, Huang Kun Hsuan, Lee Shu Chen
T
In a Taiwanese province, the lupins are in bloom, as a young art teacher arrives at his new post in a village. He discovers a genuine talent for drawing in a troublesome boy from a poor family whom everyone has given up on. The teacher begins to prepare the child for a competition, unaware of how life in the village really works.
Still from The Dull Ice Flower, 1989
Unknown outside its borders, the film was voted the best Taiwanese film of all time as part of a survey by the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute.
— Charlotte Pavard, Cannes Film Festival
Lupins are destined to bloom only for a short time: they are planted on farms solely to prepare the soil for tea. The film’s young protagonist faces the same fate—one so poignant that Yang Li-kuo’s film remains one of the Taiwanese all-time favourites to this day.
