The Fu He Grand Theater is a run-down
movie palace in Taipei. The roof leaks, the toilets are dirty, and the theater appears to have only two full-time employees, a male projectionist and a female ticket attendant. It is implied that the theater is primarily known as a gay
cruising spot (which it was in real life). On its last day of business, the proprietors choose to screen
King Hu's 1967 classic
Dragon Inn. Almost nobody is in attendance, and there is no fanfare for the occasion. The ticket attendant slowly limps through the hallways to give the projectionist a steamed bun. When she arrives in the projection room, the projectionist has temporarily left. She waits for him and thinks about leaving the bun on the table for him, but eventually takes it and walks away. A Japanese tourist attempts to cruise in the theater and the men's toilets. Although he meets some men, he is unsuccessful. He follows
Chen Chao-jung to a storage room and silently requests a light for his cigarette. Chen tells him the theater is haunted. The tourist propositions him for sex, but Chen declines. Back in the nearly empty auditorium, a female patron sits two rows behind the tourist, who gave up on cruising and returned to watching the movie. She rests her legs over the backrest of the empty seat in front of her but drops her shoe, climbs over the seat, and crawls to the seat right behind the tourist. Startled by the sounds of her biting on crackers behind him, he rises, stumbles, and hurriedly leaves the theater. The camera rests on the virtually static scene for almost two more minutes. As
Dragon Inn builds up to its climax, the film shifts to
Miao Tien and , two actors from the original
Dragon Inn film, who are watching the final screening. Miao visits with his grandson. Shih's eyes well up with tears. After the film ends, the ticket attendant dutifully turns on the lights and sweeps the floor. When she is done, the camera stays on the rows of empty seats of theater, again for about two minutes. Miao and Shih recognize each other in the lobby and talk about how nobody goes to the movies or remembers them anymore. The projectionist and ticket attendant close up the theater for the night. They rewind the film, take out the trash, and empty the rain buckets, even though the theater will never open again. They spend much of this time lost in thought. The ticket attendant stares at a poster saying "Temporarily out of business" and gives her booth one last look before walking away. She leaves half of the steamed bun for the projectionist. From the shadows, she wistfully watches the projectionist drive away, bun in hand. She then walks home by herself in the rain. ==Cast==