Some will argue that the same could be said for anything approaching a story, at least in the traditional sense.

An exquisite, wryly funny and tender tribute to the experience of movie-going, Tsai Ming-Liang's poignant love letter to cinema is one of the most beguiling and beloved dramas of modern times and is now widely regarded as a classic. Also included is a Booklet that features a fascinating essay on the film and its director by Tony Rayns, who also provides some useful background information (that I have cribbed from above) and assessment of Madam Butterfly, plus an appreciation of Goodbye, Dragon Inn by acclaimed filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Madam Butterfly (2009, 36 mins): world home-video premiere of Tsai s remarkable modern-day interpretation of the classic story. It’s not hard to see parallels with the cinema of Béla Tarr, another filmmaker who favours lingering on images for far longer than conventional wisdom dictates, a technique that peaked in the seven-hour Sátántangó.

This is generally me quietly reminding readers that what I have to say is just a personal opinion on a product of a medium in which all works are judged in that court, whatever claims might be made to the contrary. An expansion Tsai Ming-Laing’s contribution to a project launched at the 2008 Lucca Film Festival in Tuscany in which twenty ‘experimental’ filmmakers were invited to make five-minute shorts to mark 150th anniversary of Giacomo Puccini. There is, it turns out, a logical explanation for this (though not for how close the tourist gets to the man, which seems to be played more for comic effect) that is revealed only in the film’s touching final scenes. Booklet featuring new essays by curator and critic Tony Rayns, plus a personal appreciation by filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

But then it would no longer be Sátántangó, just as doing likewise to Goodbye, Dragon Inn would effectively rob the film of its identity. Reminded of the super-cinemas and the poetic King Hu films of his youth, he shot a scene in the theater and premiered the film there. Presented here in a new digital restoration, Goodbye, Dragon Inn is more ravishing and hypnotic than ever. the director-approved 1080p transfer on this Blu-ray has been sourced from a new 4K restoration, and the results are rather splendid, with a nicely balanced contrast range and solid black levels that only soften a tad in some darkest scenes so as not to crush the shadow detail.stereo soundtrack that I’m assuming is the truest to how the film originally played is partnered with a DTS-HD 5. If you watched it and felt nothing but exasperation, as some definitely have, then you’re probably thinking that this would be a good thing. For some it definitely will be and indeed has been, at least if the more dismissive and even hostile comments I’ve read online are to be believed.