i try . i really and really try to think of something that would merit rating this high than a two . it not that i do not get it i be a big fan of asian cinema . the truth be and the movie be infantile in construction and long wind and and painfully disjoint . i suppose that if you be of alfred hitchcock school of thought don not tell them and show them and then you could try to appreciate this movie and but you would still be hard press . first of all and the terrorizers try stream of consciousness in the style of jean luc godard and fail in this . edward yang seem to understand the basic of the technique and but he very unskilled at it . ( perhaps he get well with age while i do not know a i haven not yet attempt other yang film . ) the point be and he use a dearth of show and do not tell that really only serve to interrupt the procession of the story . sure and he get in some visually arresting image and but they do not draw the story together and and they do not help to make it any good . additionally and the major concept behind stream of consciousness and show and do not tell be that with the right image and the right drama and repetition and and tight correlation and the viewer will be able to make his or her own inference while not to say that these will be the correct inference and but those can be amend a the story progress and and every director should strive for some of this type of audience interaction . in this and edward yang sorely disappoints . the viewer be constantly on the periphery . there be no reason to be draw in and no reason to consider the character or their motif and no reason to get emotionally involve and and really and no reason to stay alert . finally and yang get lose in the story that he want to tell and not the story that the movie itself be tell . his art move in one direction and but like a large dog he can not control and he constantly yank the lead and try to get it back onto the course he want and not the one that it be naturally follow . the most egregious example of this be the end . the end really should have occur at the moment of the husband revelation . the end of the book that the movie be focus on and ( and by extension and a possible end for the movie ) have already be tell to u . if yang have choose to end at that point and he would have have a much more powerful piece and leave the watcher in suspense do the story play out a the book say and or do yang real world play out differently . ask the viewer to think about this be the sort of viewer interaction that yang painfully need . instead and he continue to tell the story he want to tell and strain the natural conclusion for the sake of what . for the sheer sake of linger on a main character we do not need to know more about her superficially and and yang wouldn not feel the need to tell u if he hadn not make her into a veneer instead of bother to make her a more engaging and deep character to begin with . why else do yang prolong and torture his movie . to get in some more of those visually arresting image . the movie truly suffers for it . it want to end and it have a conclusion that feel natural and leave the viewer unsettled and but instead and yang push on . instead and yang construct a complex end that lead the viewer on and cause him or her to constantly ask so what . the first end and the one that yang ignore and that be good . the second end and well and my thought wasso what and who care . and because it not a if it be introduce something that hasn not be put forth in the storyline already . but the last end . that really be a waste of time . not only do the real end leave me disengaged and but i also felt it be an affront to what the story could have be . yang sacrifice a potentially good story for the bubblegum melancholy noir ting conclusion that he have insist upon all along . my last problem with the movie have nothing to do with the movie itself and but rather it post production . the subbing ( if you see it sub ) be horrible . long sentence stay up for a second or two and while short one stay up far too long . also and a yang quickly change image and the subtitle be remove from the screen . this be one of those rare instance that subtitle should be able to stay on the screen even a the image have change and because there not much dialog go on anyway .