In a Taiwanese sex-doll hotel, glimpses of the workers’ lives and a haunting disembodied monologue reverberate. Preceded by short “Alpha Kings”
Director: SU Ming-Yen
Runtime: 85
Fest Year: 2023
A hotel in downtown Taiwan is home to a business that rents out sex dolls for clients to use. The workers routinely check in guests, clean out rooms, change bed sheets, and sanitize the dolls. In one room at the hotel, a closet houses many sex dolls, hanging headless and naked. Glimpses into the lives of the workers at the hotel offer a surprisingly human, institutional portrait—turning the camera to the places you least expect for this subject matter. Throughout the cityscapes of Taiwan, the voice of a sex doll hauntingly narrates moments through Broca’s Aphasia, offering a perspective we’ve never heard before. Director SU Ming-Yen humanizes the inanimate object’s life to offer a reflection on sex work and the workforce hidden behind closed doors. (KS) Preceded by short “Alpha Kings”