Taiwan-based Burmese filmmaker Midi Z returns with his fourth feature, The Road to Mandalay, and arguably his best work to date. Continuing his preoccupation with Burmese exiles in this love story about two illegal immigrants searching for a better life in Bangkok, Midi Z powerfully presents the trials and tribulations of those seeking to escape conflict and poverty in Burma, resorting to human traffickers to cross over the border into a less than welcoming Thailand.
An eerie soundscape alongside dreamlike, and almost surreal sequences amplify the disillusionment, displacement and alienation felt by the characters, albeit both with quite differing views of starting a new life it as immigrants.
Midi Z’s regular actress Wu Ke-xi gives a striking performance, alongside Taiwanese star Kai Ko in this outstanding drama, firmly placing Midi Z among the top contemporary Asian social realist filmmakers today.
Winner: Best Film, FEDEORA Award, Venice Film Festival 2016.