In 2012, the Malaysia-born filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang embarked on his ongoing project Walker. In all nine films in the series, Lee Kang-cheng plays a Buddhist monk who walks with extreme care through different contemporary landscapes across the globe. The character refers directly to the Chinese monk Xuanzang, who, in the seventh century, journeyed to India to bring back the great texts of Buddhism.
Sand (2018) is the seventh work in the series. For most of the film, we see Lee walking slowly along a freezing, extremely polluted beach near Zhuangwei, on the northeast coast of Taiwan. Devoid of other traces of life, this real place feels post-apocalyptic. The contrast between the monk’s bright clothing and the leaden grays of the setting echoes the evocative power of the other films in the series.
The film’s apparent minimalism intensifies as we are carried away with its rhythm and rich soundtrack. The monk’s studied movements invite us to feel the complexity of our most banal actions. While the monk’s journey may refer to a particular cultural, philosophical, and religious milieu, his movements and Tsai’s cinematic choices place him in an infinitely broader context – at the intersection of the most trivial everyday life and the most ambitious thought.
—Jean-Michel Frodon
