Not bad, not great. It definitely has its moments. My biggest problem was that many scenes were self-indulgent and went on too long.
Also, the character introductions in the beginning were sloppy. It's a small thing, but the audience shouldn't be made to endeavor sorting out which characters are important and which aren't. So this is not a spoiler, but for ease of viewing: the important characters are the soundman, the kinky therapist, and the depressed office worker girl. Not important: the film crew, the prostitute, the boyfriend (maybe boss, maybe just co-worker), the patient. They are presented like they may be main characters.
The film is quiet, slow and meditative, almost mournful. It's about loneliness and connection in regard to an individual's relationship with an "other"; the distance and intimacy of sound and how it connects, but also requires distance to travel. In all these cases, the connection is distant or broken, and the result is a lonely striving and search.
The basic plot is about the soundman who is depressed because he gets fired and broke up with his girlfriend, and decides to finish a sound project that they were planning to do involving going around Taiwan recording its sounds. He makes recordings and sends them to his girlfriend not knowing she has already moved out, and the tapes are received by the new occupant who listens to the recordings. She becomes intrigued by the recordings and sets off to find the places of the recordings. Hilarity ensues. Or not.
I thought it was definitely worth watching. It's a bit too long, and the execution of the concept was sloppy and could've been more poignant, but like I said it has its moments. I'd recommend this to people with an interest in Taiwan, Asian cinema, independent and foreign film, and people way into their own heads.
I give it a fresh rating: 7/10 tomatoes.
