It stars Wang Yu-wen, Chen Chao-jung, Lee Kang-sheng, Jen Chang-bin, Miao Tien, and Lu Hsiao-ling.

'Little Kang', a nickname derived from Lee Kang-sheng's full name), attends a cram school and lives with his parents.

The next morning, he meets Kuei, a young woman who had just had a one-night stand in the neighboring room with Ah Tze's brother, a car salesman.

During an altercation in traffic, Tze intentionally breaks the side mirror on Hsiao Kang's father's taxi.

That night, Tze brings Ping back to his apartment, by chance in Hsiao Kang's father's taxi.

Tsai later said, "It was by spending time with Hsiao Kang as he went through the whole experience that I decided that I wanted to make a simple film about a kid trying to get into college, which became Rebels of the Neon God.

Before the pawning of the stolen goods, Hsiao Kang vandalizes Tze's motorcycle and writes "Nezha was here" on the adjacent sidewalk.

The site's consensus reads: "Rebels of the Neon God announces writer-director Ming-liang Tsai as a fully formed talent—and remains one of the more accomplished debuts of the decade".

[6] In a retrospective review for The New York Times, A. O. Scott compared the film with Tsai's later work and wrote: "The camera movements are minimal and precise, turning what might seem like ordinary shots into sly jokes.

Chief among them is Lee Kang-sheng, a slender, nearly silent man with a Keatonesque deadpan who has appeared in all 10 of Mr. Tsai's features so far.