We got another The Hole situation, a girl living alone one loose floorboard away from the catatonic guy (played by short-haired Lee) in the apartment underneath. Meanwhile a local guy (this is Malaysia, where Tsai comes from) takes in a foreigner (played by long-haired Lee) who got himself beat up in the street, has to wash the mattress whenever the foreigner soils it, which is often. Overall more grime and desperation than usual (preceding the great Stray Dogs) though it ends with a lovely dream

The woman upstairs is Chen Shiang-Chyi of Stray Dogs, ticket taker of Goodbye Dragon Inn. Chris Fujiwara wrote of people “staying human under the most hostile conditions” in the final writeup of the Defining Movies book.