Lin Tse-yu

In a village often disturbed by military drills, the army sends soon-to-retire soldiers to take care of cows and sheep, hoping to build good relations with the locals. But this kind act cannot hide the long-term impact the drills have had on people’s lives.

Retired Lao Cao and Xiao Lai, two old men, sit on opposite sides of a drinking table under an arcade in Taipei. They toast and talk nonsense like this every day, and they have done it for more than thirty years. A young director who meant only to watch somehow ends up at the table too, spending many absurd and moving nights with them. Years pass. Someone leaves, someone falls ill, and some relationships are repaired and then break again. The two men are old, they are nearly done with drink, and they no longer see each other often.

"Politics and religion are not allowed here. We only talk about women." But after a few glasses of Kaoliang liquor, CAO's rules are naturally forgotten. Every night for 30 years, CAO would sit in front of his house and have a few drinks, and it has become a place for older men to gather. After retirement, their conversations are full of conflicts between old and new values and "masculine" topics. CAO and his buddy LAI chit chat about their inner feelings that have to be spilled out.

In a village often disturbed by military drills, the army sends soon-to-retire soldiers to take care of cows and sheep, hoping to build good relations with the locals. But this kind act cannot hide the long-term impact the drills have had on people’s lives.

Retired Lao Cao and Xiao Lai, two old men, sit on opposite sides of a drinking table under an arcade in Taipei. They toast and talk nonsense like this every day, and they have done it for more than thirty years. A young director who meant only to watch somehow ends up at the table too, spending many absurd and moving nights with them. Years pass. Someone leaves, someone falls ill, and some relationships are repaired and then break again. The two men are old, they are nearly done with drink, and they no longer see each other often.

"Politics and religion are not allowed here. We only talk about women." But after a few glasses of Kaoliang liquor, CAO's rules are naturally forgotten. Every night for 30 years, CAO would sit in front of his house and have a few drinks, and it has become a place for older men to gather. After retirement, their conversations are full of conflicts between old and new values and "masculine" topics. CAO and his buddy LAI chit chat about their inner feelings that have to be spilled out.