Review of 4:30 (2005) by Private U — 22 Jun 2007

The best film I have seen this year. Royston Tan moves from the erratic, boat-rocking nihilism of his debut '15', to this quiet meditation on loneliness with effortless grace. The film follows Xiao Wu, a sickly young boy unsure of his sexuality and abandoned by his mother on a business trip.

She leaves him with his visiting Korean father, who has also had his heart broken by her, and who doesn't even speak the same language as the boy. Desperate to connect with this strange man, with whom he has so much in common but from whom he is so distanced, Xiao begins to sneak into his room every morning at 4.

30, where he lies sprawled on the bed after his drunken night out, and methodically explores his possessions and then his body, making notes in a scrapbook as he goes. Tan explores his subject cinematically through a series of elegant long takes that create a deeply poignant atmosphere.

Tan demonstrates, like Tsai Ming-liang and Wong Kar-wai who seem to be influences here, that he has the ability to create meaning and emotion through a stunning control of space, repetition and powerful images without the need of unnecessary dialogue.