Thought of you as everything I've had but couldn't keep

Lee Kang Sheng is back with his second directorial effort, "Help Me Eros", after blowing minds with "Bu Jian" (aka "The Missing") in 2003. This time, he plays the lead again (giving it an even more Tsai Ming Liang feel). Not surprisingly, "Help Me Eros" is made in that distinct style that people have come to know Tsai and Lee for - subdued, grim, with minimal dialogue and plenty of sex.

Revolving round the character of Ah Jie, a closet pothead (he grows the plants in his closet) who has lost everything when the stocks market crashed. He spends his time at home smoking up and calling a suicide helpline where he grows emotionally attached to his counsellor, Chyi. He hasn't met Chyi and has no idea she's overweight, but he projects his fantasy of Chyi on Shin, the new betel nut girl below his apartment. Ah Jie and Shin crossed paths one night the two spent seeking thrills in Ah Jie's former sports car, racing down the streets and getting smashed. Their relationship quickly becomes highly sexual (viewers are treated to scenes of their various explicit and theatrical sexual positions - very LOL). As his situation becomes more critical, Ah Jie begins selling his designer furniture for living expenses and finally leaving it to chance by buying a lot of lottery tickets. While the reality of his life plunges into a downward spiral, his marijuana plants offer him a glimmer of hope, where he indulges in his fantasy and his sexual escapades with a few other betel nut girls, portrayed in a few enthralling dreamlike sequences in which the film glorifies the raunchy culture associated with Taiwan’s streets at night.

"Help Me Eros" is about desperation, and the plea for help. This is shown right from the start with subplots that parallel this. In the opening scene, a cooking show is playing on Ah Jie's TV, in which the chef demonstrates the gutting and scaling of a carp, for an exotic dish named "Carp Jumps Over The Wall". It becomes clear that the carp will be served live. The TV presenter then in good humour, takes it upon himself to express the carp's fear and plea to escape its fate, while Ah Jie watches on, visibly disturbed. Chyi's character too, is quietly desperate and dejected.

This story is comparatively easy to understand and relate to, and Lee Kang Sheng's depiction of a stoner is brilliant. He does not overact his altered state like most other movies do. There is also the trademark offbeat humour that is used effectively in this film, as well as thought-provoking moments and bizarre situations. I love how the ending and the metaphor which the film uses to tell it. It seems to lend sympathy to the anti-hero by romanticizing the events.

Word of caution. This movie is an acquired taste. Those who don't like it might find it too cheesy, too exploitative (unnecessary prolonged sex scenes) and too crass. You have been warned.