Big World Pictures

REBELS OF THE NEON GOD is a remarkably impressive first film that hints at the promise of its director: a talent confirmed by Tsai’s equally stunning filmography. Though showing such diverse influences as the French New Wave, Wong Kar-wai’s early films—and, yes, REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE— Tsai’s film is most remarkable for introducing his startlingly unique vision to world cinema.

Early '90s, in Tbilisi, the capital of the newly independent Georgia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The country is facing violence there's a war on the Black Sea coast in Abkhazia, and vigilante justice plagues society. But for Eka and Natia, fourteen-year-old inseparable friends, life just unfolds in the street, at school, with friends or Eka's elder sister. Although they are already dealing with men's dominance, early marriage and disillusioned love, for these two girls in bloom, life just goes on.