The Smithsonian’s Museum of Asian Art presents a screening of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s film “Goodbye South, Goodbye”.

Journeying through southern Taiwan from one poorly conceived scam to another, thirty-something Kao, his teenage protégé Flathead, and their girlfriends Hsi and Pretzel are “gangsters” in name only. They spend more time falling asleep and playing Nintendo than experiencing glamorous shootouts or obscene wealth. More clueless failures than violent outcasts, they want to get rich quick but are too confused—or too human—to be any good at it.

Taiwanese pop star Lim Giong (Flathead) contributes to the impressive soundtrack, but the landscape controls and frames the film. Viewed through train windows or alongside paved roads, it unveils the possibilities of routes that the characters remain hopelessly unable, or unwilling, to take.

Website: www.asia.si.edu/events/films.asp#/?i=1

Cost: Seating for films is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Auditorium doors will open approximately 30 minutes before each show.