Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2004)
81%RT Audience Score: 73%
Awards & Nominations: 14 wins & 11 nominations
Goodbye, Dragon Inn is a cinematic masterpiece that captures the essence of film and the shared experience of movie-going. Tsai Ming-liang’s elegiac comedy is a requiem for a movie theater, a tribute to the magic of cinema, and a meditation on loss. Discarding plot in favor of finely evoked resonances with histories political, aesthetic, and personal, the film attunes itself to the shared experience of a memorialized work of art. With its weird, funny, and melancholy tone, Goodbye, Dragon Inn is a gorgeous and maturely composed movie that will start pollinating your dreams and quite possibly change the way you experience going to the movies.
Goodbye, Dragon Inn is like a love letter to movie theaters, but not the kind of love letter that’s all mushy and romantic. It’s more like a love letter from a grumpy old man who’s been going to the same theater for decades and is sad to see it go. But even though he’s grumpy, you can tell he really cares. The movie is slow and quiet, but it’s also funny and weird in a way that makes you feel like you’re in on a secret. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re a film geek who loves to get lost in the magic of the movies, you’ll probably love it.
Production Company(ies)
Stanley Donen Films,
Distributor
Homegreen Films
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
MPAA / Certificate
Year of Release
2003
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 21m
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Language(s):Mandarin, Min, Nan, Japanese
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Country of origin:Taiwan
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Aug 29, 2003 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 15, 2005
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Lee Kang-sheng, Shiang-chyi Chen, Kiyonobu Mitamura, Miao Tien, Lee Yi-cheng, directed by Ming-liang Tsai, written by Ming-liang Tsai, drama, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Ela Bittencourt, Joshua Rothkopf, Richard Brody, Michael Wilmington, G Allen Johnson, Wesley Morris, Hannah Kinney-Kobre, George Elkind, Dennis Harvey, Jason Shawhan, Miguel Martín Maestro, MPAA rating, produced by Hung-Chih Liang, Vincent Wang, cinema, movie theater, Dragon Inn, nostalgia, employees, patrons, Japanese tourist, ghostly actors, haunted building, final film, projectionist, cashier, fading theater, cineastes, elegiac, melancholy, deadpan humor, deliberate pacing, still moments, poignant, theater experience, movie love, profound, simple
Worldwide gross: $1,029,643
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,668,919
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,459
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 181,998
US/Canada gross: $35,120
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $56,925
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,743
US/Canada opening weekend: $5,322
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $8,626
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,732
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Shiang-chyi Chen – Ticket Woman
Kiyonobu Mitamura – Japanese Tourist
Miao Tien – Self
Lee Yi-cheng – Self
Ming-liang Tsai – Director
Hung-Chih Liang – Producer
Vincent Wang – Producer
Ming-liang Tsai – Writer
Director(s)
Ming-liang Tsai
Writer(s)
Ming-liang Tsai
Producer(s)
Hung-Chih Liang, Vincent Wang
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
14 wins & 11 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (47) | Top Critics (18) | Fresh (38) | Rotten (9)
You’d never think a spacious, mostly empty movie theater could feel so tight.
February 8, 2021
Ela Bittencourt
Hyperallergic
TOP CRITIC
Tsai Ming-liang’s stultifying Good Bye, Dragon Inn captures none of the magic of film despite being set in a movie palace on its final day of operations.
March 16, 2020
Joshua Rothkopf
In These Times
TOP CRITIC
This elegiac 2003 comedy, by the Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang, is a requiem for a movie theatre.
June 2, 2014
Richard Brody
New Yorker
TOP CRITIC
A weird, funny, melancholy tribute to movies and movie-going, an opus for film geeks that rang my personal bell.
January 6, 2005 | Rating: 3.5/4
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune
TOP CRITIC
Idiosyncratic, oddball movie that is both funny and moody.
December 17, 2004 | Rating: 3/4
G. Allen Johnson
San Francisco Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
This is one of the most gorgeous and maturely composed movies you’ll see this year.
October 29, 2004 | Rating: 4/4
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe
TOP CRITIC
Beneath the steely surface of Tsai’s aesthetic, Goodbye, Dragon Inn reveals itself to be full of the little plots that make up life as we understand it…
May 9, 2022
Hannah Kinney-Kobre
Pittsburgh City Paper
Discarding plot in favoring a procession of finely evoked resonances with histories political, aesthetic, and personal, all flowing through a shared experience of a memorialized work of art, [it] makes much of seemingly little by attuning itself to loss.
March 24, 2022
George Elkind
Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
This melancholy, meditative piece is considered one of the greatest Taiwanese films ever.
February 11, 2022
Dennis Harvey
48 Hills
This is a trippy, elusive and ultimately very moving film that will start pollinating your dreams and quite possibly change the way you experience going to the movies.
September 8, 2021
Jason Shawhan
Nashville Scene
An outstanding movie. [Full review in Spanish]
June 10, 2021 | Rating: 5/5
Miguel Martín Maestro
El antepenúltimo mohicano
As one is reminded throughout Goodbye, Dragon Inn, even when one goes to the movies alone, one does so to find a connection with others.
December 23, 2020
Lee Jutton
Film Inquiry…
Plot
As a movie theater in Taipei prepares to close, the final film shown, “Dragon Inn,” brings together a cast of eccentric employees and nostalgic patrons, including two ghostly actors from the original film, in this unique and melancholic tribute to the magic of cinema.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
There is no specific goofy, funny, or odd comment about the film or anyone in the cast on Fresh Kernels.
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