The MSU Film Collective, also known as class FLM 200, and some non-student members gathered in Wells Hall for a screening of the film, Goodbye, Dragon Inn. The screening was held Thursday, Mar. 12.

FLM 200 allows students and visitors to watch a film and hold discussion afterwards. Professor Kuhu Tanvir presented the film and led a discussion for the class after the showing. 

Creative advertising freshman Anna Williams has enjoyed the experience of FLM 200 and getting to know other students opinions on films.

“I love listening to the super smart people reflect on the movie at the end,” Williams said. “Seeing new perspectives as someone who doesn’t know a whole lot about film is very interesting.”

Goodbye, Dragon Inn is a Taiwanese film written and directed by Tsai Ming-Liang in Dec. 2003. It falls under the category of slow cinema. Slow cinema emphasizes a more minimalistic style with drawn out scenes. Despite the exceptionally slow pace the movie itself is 84 minutes. This style of film set a new expectation for Ming-Liang’s films.

Goodbye, Dragon Inn is more deliberate compared to any of Ming-Liang's other films in terms of movement. The film had almost no dialogue, and when there was some, it was clustered, not spread throughout the scenes. The film features liminal spaces and characters moving within tight spaces — often they were bumping into each other, passing each other, or in close proximity, all without hardly ever saying a word. 

Goodbye, Dragon Inn serves as an ode to the dying practice of watching cinema in theaters. It makes reference to a 1967 film directed by King Hu titled Dragon Inn. 

Students voiced mixed opinions on the film regarding the style and and overall message, one of these students was journalism junior Neil Thiry.

“Very captivating, but simultaneously very very boring,” Thiry said. “I really loved how it represented the power of cinema and movie theaters in general.”

Psychology sophomore Gavin Yeager shared a different sentiment than Thiry.