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Arbelos Films presents LIFE IS CHEAP … BUT TOILET PAPER IS EXPENSIVE - New digital restoration of Director Wayne Wang's definitive cut of this much-loved independent film.
Exploding a seemingly simple premise - a nameless "cowboy" courier (Spencer Nakasako) arrives in pre-Handover Hong Kong to deliver a mysterious briefcase to a mercurial Mob boss whilst becoming entangled with his femme fatale mistress (Cora Miao) - independent filmmaking legend Wayne Wang's LIFE IS CHEAP … BUT TOILET PAPER IS EXPENSIVE barrels through inspired genre deconstruction, guerrilla docu-fiction and fierce political jeremiad, all with a keen sense of humor and deeply rich visual palette.
Tracking the Man-with-no-name's increasingly byzantine mission across every level of the city's social strata, we're introduced to fortune families, cabdrivers, hustlers, butchers and more, each punctuating the high-octane Neo-noir narrative with instantly memorable monologues that capture a now-distant era in Hong Kong history.
Multifaceted but never incoherent LIFE IS CHEAP … BUT TOILET PAPER IS EXPENSIVE is among Wang's most unique and bracing contributions to the independent film cannon. Much-loved on the international film festival circuit but unjustly overlooked in North America, this is a maverick tour de force ripe for rediscovery.
Specs:
Anamorphic Widescreen 1.66:1.
DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono.
Region code: A.
Special Features:
New 4K restoration of Wayne Wang's final cut by Lightbox Film Center at University of the Arts in collaboration with University of California Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.
New video interview with Wayne Wang.
New video interview with Wayne Wang and co-writer/co-director Spencer Nakasako.
Original chase sequence.
U.S. Theatrical Trailer.
New essay by Aliza Ma.
