1-World Festival of Foreign Films
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"The Beautiful Washing Machine"
2004
Directed by James Lee

In this critically-acclaimed, absurdist comedy from Malaysian New Wave filmmaker James Lee, the effects of alienation and consumerism in an increasingly mechanized modern world spiral out of control. Teoh (Loh Bak Lai), a working stiff, is forced to buy a second-hand washing machine, which quickly breaks down. After multiple calls to customer service, and through some surreal narrative logic, a young woman (or the embodiment of his temperamental washing machine) arrives and becomes his live-in maid, whom he exploits and rents out to demented strangers. "An absurdist allegory on the perils of secondhand ownership...contains Bunuelian flourishes aplenty" (David Ng, Village Voice). Mandarin and Cantonese with English subtitles. 113 minutes.