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Characteristically colourful effort from Taiwanese auteur Tsai Ming Lian. Taiwan is in the grip of a water-shortage, and watermelons are in demand as an alternative source of refreshment. In a near-deserted city, lonely-girl Shiang-Chyi forages for water and companionship, occasionally crossing paths with porn actor Hsiao-Kang (played by Tsai’s regular lead, Lee Kang-sheng) as he goes about his work.

The film opens with Hsiao-Kang vigourously copulating with a girl who is holding a dripping half-melon between her spread-eagled legs. Even human moisture, it seems, is in short supply, and just as melon juice has become a substitute for water, so sex - or, rather, pornography - has become a substitute for love.

Like clouds, Tsai’s protagonists drift rather than connect, but the film’s desolate air is broken by outrageous song-and-dance routines - including one in which Hsiao parades around in a giant penis hat - which recall the high-camp of Busby Berkeley and the dreamlike imagery of Pink Narcissus.