{ "id": "epnrqk9zdf", "slug": "days-2020-film", "title": "Days (日子) (2020 film)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2020-to-2022", "label": "Drama films 2020 to 2022", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2020-to-2022" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "China · 2001 to 2020: Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "path": [ { "id": "geo.chn", "label": "China", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001", "label": "China · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Days (日子, Rizi) is Tsai Ming-liang's 2020 Taiwanese drama starring Lee Kang-sheng and Anong Houngheuangsy; a wordless 46-shot slow film that premiered in competition at the 2020 Berlinale and won the Teddy Jury Award.", "snippet": "Days (日子, Rizi) is Tsai Ming-liang's 2020 Taiwanese drama starring Lee Kang-sheng and Anong Houngheuangsy; a wordless 46-shot slow film that premiered in competition at the 2020 Berlinale and won the Teddy Jury Award.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-2020-to-2022", "markdown": "# Days (日子) (2020 film)\n\n**Days** (日子; original title Rizi) is a 2020 Taiwanese drama film directed by [Tsai Ming-liang](https://www.edgepedia.org/tsai-ming-liang), starring his longtime collaborator Lee Kang-sheng and the non-professional actor Anong Houngheuangsy. It depicts two solitary men, a chronically ill middle-aged man in Taiwan and a young Laotian migrant worker in Bangkok, whose paths cross in a hotel room where the younger man is hired to give massages. The film premiered in competition at the 70th [Berlin International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/berlin-international-film-festival) on 27 February 2020 and won the festival's Teddy Jury Award.[1](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E6%97%A5%E5%AD%90/24295379?fromModule=tashuo-article_bottom-lemma) • [2](https://www.cna.com.tw/news/amov/202007070350.aspx)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director / cast | Tsai Ming-liang; Lee Kang-sheng and Anong Houngheuangsy[1](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E6%97%A5%E5%AD%90/24295379?fromModule=tashuo-article_bottom-lemma) |\n| Premiere | 27 February 2020, in competition at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival[1](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E6%97%A5%E5%AD%90/24295379?fromModule=tashuo-article_bottom-lemma) |\n| Award | Teddy Jury Award, 2020 Berlinale; no main competition prize[2](https://www.cna.com.tw/news/amov/202007070350.aspx) • [3](https://www.cna.com.tw/news/amov/202003010229.aspx) |\n| Form | 127 minutes, 46 shots, fewer than five lines of dialogue, no subtitles, longest take about 20 minutes[4](https://eiga.com/movie/92689/) • [5](https://www.anntw.com/articles/20200709-iqQi) |\n| Production | Shot from 2014 over roughly four years, without a script and on very little money[2](https://www.cna.com.tw/news/amov/202007070350.aspx) • [6](https://ent.ifeng.com/c/7uSVdf0I85Q) |\n| Later recognition | Nominated for Best Feature, Best Director, and Best Actor (Lee) at the 2020 Taipei Film Awards[2](https://www.cna.com.tw/news/amov/202007070350.aspx) |\n| Taiwan release | 27 October 2023 to 7 January 2024, paired with the exhibition \"Tsai Ming-liang's Days\"[7](https://archive.ncafroc.org.tw/upload/result/24195-MQ2001/24195-MQ2001_%E6%88%90%E6%9E%9C%E5%A0%B1%E5%91%8A%E6%9B%B8_%E8%94%A1%E6%98%8E%E4%BA%AE%E7%9A%84%E6%97%A5%E5%AD%90%20%E5%9C%8B%E8%97%9D%E6%9C%83%E6%88%90%E6%9E%9C%E5%A0%B1%E5%91%8A%20%E7%B0%A1%E8%A6%81%E7%89%88_1718604884474.pdf) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story and characters\n\nKang (Lee Kang-sheng) lives alone in a large house, suffers an unexplained pain that grips his whole body, and seeks treatment, including a trip to Hong Kong. Non (Anong Houngheuangsy) lives in a small apartment in Bangkok and methodically prepares traditional dishes from home. When Kang hires Non to give him a massage in a hotel room, the two begin to share their loneliness with each other.[1](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E6%97%A5%E5%AD%90/24295379?fromModule=tashuo-article_bottom-lemma) The US distributor Grasshopper Film describes the encounter as culminating in \"a moment of healing, tenderness, and sexual release.\"[8](https://grasshopperfilm.com/film/days/)\n\nThe film's treatment scenes are rooted in reality. Lee was unwell during the shoot; through a friend he met a doctor, and when he flew to Hong Kong for treatment Tsai chose to film the procedure. The doctor, who Tsai said had almost never failed before, mishandled that session, and Tsai treated the accident as a spark that made the footage more than a record of treatment, though he admitted that editing Lee's scarred skin frightened even him.[2](https://www.cna.com.tw/news/amov/202007070350.aspx) In one acupuncture scene Lee was burned by a falling ember and cried out in pain, and Tsai hurriedly spoke from behind the camera, a moment critics read as breaking the film's line between fiction and reality.[9](https://www.unitas.me/archives/18269)\n\n## Production method\n\nTsai began shooting in 2014, initially recording Lee's illness, and worked without a detailed plan or a script, on very little money, assembling the film while raising funds and editing.[6](https://ent.ifeng.com/c/7uSVdf0I85Q) • [1](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E6%97%A5%E5%AD%90/24295379?fromModule=tashuo-article_bottom-lemma) Lee said in an interview that he received no script at all during the process: Tsai and the producer first filmed Anong in Thailand, then cut in footage of Lee's earlier illness, and only about half a year later brought Lee to Thailand to play opposite Anong, with the remaining scenes shot back in Taiwan; the film took three to four years to complete.[10](https://dialmformovie.net/2020/08/21/%E3%80%8A%E6%97%A5%E5%AD%90%E3%80%8B-2020-%E7%94%B7%E4%B8%BB%E8%A7%92%E6%9D%8E%E5%BA%B7%E7%94%9F%E7%9A%84%E6%8E%A1%E8%A8%AA/)\n\n**Casting Anong.** Tsai met Anong Houngheuangsy, then a young undocumented migrant worker, at a food court in Bangkok; after the two became friends across borders, Tsai brought him into the film. Anong at first did not know a film was being made and assumed the crew was from Discovery filming his cooking. Tsai praised his natural talent and said Anong would work as his art assistant.[2](https://www.cna.com.tw/news/amov/202007070350.aspx)\n\nThe film rejects industrial filmmaking. Tsai described it as made \"by hand,\" abandoning the traditional division of labor, and the opening title card announces that the film deliberately carries no subtitles.[11](https://www.cna.com.tw/news/amov/202002280041.aspx) • [5](https://www.anntw.com/articles/20200709-iqQi) Its 46 shots include long fixed-camera takes of washing vegetables, bathing, cooking, and staring; the longest runs about 20 minutes.[5](https://www.anntw.com/articles/20200709-iqQi) • [12](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/node/9047) The only music is \"Eternal,\" the song [Charlie Chaplin](https://www.edgepedia.org/charlie-chaplin) wrote for *[Limelight](https://www.edgepedia.org/limelight-1952-film)*, which Tsai had already used in *[I Don't Want to Sleep Alone](https://www.edgepedia.org/i-dont-want-to-sleep-alone)*; he defended the repetition, saying that music repeats in daily life.[9](https://www.unitas.me/archives/18269) • [6](https://ent.ifeng.com/c/7uSVdf0I85Q)\n\n## Reception\n\nAt the Berlinale the film won no main competition prize but took the Teddy Jury Award, an award for LGBT-themed cinema, and drew strong German reviews. *Der Spiegel* called it the highlight of the festival, describing two lonely men whose paths cross in a hotel, one man's pain released through the other's devotion; *Süddeutsche Zeitung* called it a silent film that is moving and at times absurd, with a story richer than more talkative films; and RBB called Tsai \"a master of subtraction\" who lets sound create atmosphere and advance the story. In a poll of six leading critics for *Der Tagesspiegel*, *Days* ranked second among the 18 competition films.[3](https://www.cna.com.tw/news/amov/202003010229.aspx) The world premiere filled all of the more than 1,700 seats at the Theater am [Potsdamer Platz](https://www.edgepedia.org/potsdamer-platz).[11](https://www.cna.com.tw/news/amov/202002280041.aspx)\n\nThe film was the closing film of the 2020 Taipei Film Festival and was nominated there for Best Narrative Feature and Best Director, with Lee nominated for Best Actor.[2](https://www.cna.com.tw/news/amov/202007070350.aspx) It was the third Taiwanese film to win a Berlinale Teddy Award, after *Spider Lilies* (2007) and *Small Talk* (2017).[13](https://www.csat.org.tw/userfiles/Cultural%20Studies%20Quarterly%20no.188.pdf) On 6 April 2020 a screener copy leaked online; Tsai expressed his disappointment on Douban and Weibo, saying he had mailed the screener to some people at the request of media and distributors and that trust had been betrayed, and on 11 April he publicly named one person who had spread the file.[1](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E6%97%A5%E5%AD%90/24295379?fromModule=tashuo-article_bottom-lemma)\n\n## Place in Tsai's career\n\n*Days* was Tsai's first narrative feature in seven years, following *[Stray Dogs](https://www.edgepedia.org/stray-dogs)* (2013), after he had shifted toward gallery exhibitions, theater, installation art, and coffee-making, and it marked a return to fiction filmmaking in a minimalist slow-cinema mode.[14](https://www.chinafilmnews.cn/Html/2021-10-13/7358.html) • [15](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/days-rizi-tsai-ming-liang-lee-kang-sheng-sexual-release) Critics placed it in dialogue with *[The River](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-river-1997-film)* (1997): both tell of a man seeking treatment for a neck ailment who ultimately sleeps with another man, though the 2020 film presents a different cinematic image from its predecessor.[13](https://www.csat.org.tw/userfiles/Cultural%20Studies%20Quarterly%20no.188.pdf) Lee's neck condition is real; he suffered a stroke in the years before the film, and Tsai adapted to his health, filming on and off and even appearing on screen and in voiceover to comfort him during treatment.[12](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/node/9047)\n\nThe film's release was stretched by the pandemic and by its unconventional form. It screened in [Japan](https://www.edgepedia.org/japan-epzdpsev89) as a special invitation film at TOKYO FILMeX in late 2020,[4](https://eiga.com/movie/92689/) reached US theaters in August 2021,[8](https://grasshopperfilm.com/film/days/) and opened in Taiwan only on 27 October 2023, running until 7 January 2024 alongside the museum exhibition \"Tsai Ming-liang's Days\" at the Museum of National Taipei University of Education, which displayed his paintings, chair collection, and other work from the previous decade.[7](https://archive.ncafroc.org.tw/upload/result/24195-MQ2001/24195-MQ2001_%E6%88%90%E6%9E%9C%E5%A0%B1%E5%91%8A%E6%9B%B8_%E8%94%A1%E6%98%8E%E4%BA%AE%E7%9A%84%E6%97%A5%E5%AD%90%20%E5%9C%8B%E8%97%9D%E6%9C%83%E6%88%90%E6%9E%9C%E5%A0%B1%E5%91%8A%20%E7%B0%A1%E8%A6%81%E7%89%88_1718604884474.pdf)\n\n## References\n\n1. [日子（2020年蔡明亮执导的电影）, Baidu Baike](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E6%97%A5%E5%AD%90/24295379?fromModule=tashuo-article_bottom-lemma)\n2. [蔡明亮日子北影亞洲首映 拍出李康生低潮與療癒, 中央社 CNA (2020-07-07)](https://www.cna.com.tw/news/amov/202007070350.aspx)\n3. [無緣柏林影展主競賽獎 蔡明亮新作獲影評高度肯定, 中央社 CNA (2020-03-01)](https://www.cna.com.tw/news/amov/202003010229.aspx)\n4. [日子：作品情報・キャスト・あらすじ, 映画.com](https://eiga.com/movie/92689/)\n5. [《台北電影節入圍系列一》日子愈慢長愈深刻 蔡明亮新驚奇, 台灣醒報 (2020-07-09)](https://www.anntw.com/articles/20200709-iqQi)\n6. [柏林独家专访｜蔡明亮：看故事去网飞，欣赏艺术应回归影院, 凤凰网娱乐](https://ent.ifeng.com/c/7uSVdf0I85Q)\n7. [《蔡明亮的日子》—蔡明亮電影跨界展覽計劃成果報告書, 國藝會](https://archive.ncafroc.org.tw/upload/result/24195-MQ2001/24195-MQ2001_%E6%88%90%E6%9E%9C%E5%A0%B1%E5%91%8A%E6%9B%B8_%E8%94%A1%E6%98%8E%E4%BA%AE%E7%9A%84%E6%97%A5%E5%AD%90%20%E5%9C%8B%E8%97%9D%E6%9C%83%E6%88%90%E6%9E%9C%E5%A0%B1%E5%91%8A%20%E7%B0%A1%E8%A6%81%E7%89%88_1718604884474.pdf)\n8. [Days, Grasshopper Film](https://grasshopperfilm.com/film/days/)\n9. [〖金馬57〗光陰成像——評《日子》, 聯合文學 unitas (2020-11-16)](https://www.unitas.me/archives/18269)\n10. [《日子》(2020) 男主角李康生的採訪, Dial M for Movie (2020-08-21)](https://dialmformovie.net/2020/08/21/%E3%80%8A%E6%97%A5%E5%AD%90%E3%80%8B-2020-%E7%94%B7%E4%B8%BB%E8%A7%92%E6%9D%8E%E5%BA%B7%E7%94%9F%E7%9A%84%E6%8E%A1%E8%A8%AA/)\n11. [蔡明亮新片柏林影展全球首映 觀眾反應熱烈, 中央社 CNA (2020-02-28)](https://www.cna.com.tw/news/amov/202002280041.aspx)\n12. [〖柏林〗蔡明亮《日子》：日常的刻印, 放映週報 (2020-04-30)](https://funscreen.tfai.org.tw/node/9047)\n13. [酷兒影像現在性：蔡明亮《日子》的愉悅感與療傷／江昇, 文化研究季刊第188期](https://www.csat.org.tw/userfiles/Cultural%20Studies%20Quarterly%20no.188.pdf)\n14. [《日子》与\"有签名的电影\", 中国电影报 (2021-10-13)](https://www.chinafilmnews.cn/Html/2021-10-13/7358.html)\n15. [Days: Tsai Ming-liang makes his peace with sexual release, Sight and Sound (2020-10-07)](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/days-rizi-tsai-ming-liang-lee-kang-sheng-sexual-release)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2020 to 2022*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/days-2020-film", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/days-2020-film.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Days (日子) (2020 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/days-2020-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Days (日子) (2020 film)](https://www.edgepedia.org/days-2020-film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/days-2020-film](https://www.edgepedia.org/days-2020-film). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Days (日子) (2020 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/days-2020-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Days is Tsai Ming-liang's 2020 Taiwanese drama starring Lee Kang-sheng and Anong Houngheuangsy; a wordless 46-shot slow film that premiered in competition at the 2020 Berlinale and won the Teddy Jury Award." }