Edward Yang Films at the Cinematheque Ontario

Four Master directors passed away in 2007 – Ingmar Bergman, Michelangelo Antonioni, Ousmane Semane and the least known to western audiences - Taiwanese Edward Yang.  Born in China but growing up in Taipei, Yang directed his first film in 1982.  His work caught attention of the world after the Cannes best direction win - YI YI.  But it is his 4-hour long A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY that many critics consider a masterpiece.  Both these films and most of his other works will be screened at the Cinematheque Ontario during the Edward Yang series that begin this Friday. 

Yang’s films concentrated mainly on city life like his contemporary Tsai Ming-Liang.  Yang was particularly inspired by Italian director Antonioni who also passed away last year.  Yang had an engineering degree but his interest was in cinema.  Like this humble critic.

For full information on schedule and times, click on:
http://www.cinemathequeontario.ca

A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY (Taiwan 1991) ****
Directed by Edward Yang
Yang’s most famous critically acclaimed multiple award winner is a lengthy 4-hour coming-of-age story of several members of Taiwan’s teen gangs.  The background is the politically changing environment where the youth search for identity, romance, education and above all a meaning in existence.  Yang’s graceful film is again full of stationary shots with his amateur actors moving in and out of the frames.  The best scenes are the performance ones – the singing; and the filmmaking, the latter viewed by the main protagonist called Sir and his girlfriend from the rafters.  Those unaware of Asian culture will lose out on the language(s) employed during the film – local dialect is usually spoken by the poorer and lower classes. The cuss words (c**t, for one is frequently used) are not translated in the subtitles nor are the names of the characters.  One is called Lau Er, which in English means Old Number 2.  Still, A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY is worth its long viewing length for the surprise that comes at the end.
- screening March 14th

MAHJONG (Taiwan 1996) ***
Directed by Edward Yang
MAHJONG is a comic gangster film written and directed by Edward Yang that deals with several losers, all given odd names like Red Fish (Tang Congsheng), Hong Kong (Chang Chen) etc. in the capital of Taiwan.  The story never centers on any particular character thus giving the film the impression that it is all over the place.  But the central theme is consistent.  None of the characters can determine the outcome of their future no matter how hard they try.  Yang loves his city of Taipei as one of his characters Markus (Nick Erickson) describes it as the futuristic city of the world and still the world’s best kept secret.  The cast is exceptional, especially gorgeous French actress Virginie Ledoyen as Marta who has since then gone on to bigger roles (8 FEMMES and THE VALET).  Marta travels to Taipei from France in search of Markus as in Adele H., as Markus remarks comically at one point in the movie.  Yang shoots his film often with his camera back, like the staging of a play.  The result is a few shots in which the actors are out of frame.  Still, MAHJONG is interesting in the way Yang intertwines the stories of different characters wound around the single theme of a botched killing attempt.
- screening March 16th

YI YI (Taiwan/Japan 2000) ****
Directed by Edward Yang
YI YI is a three generation spanning family epic that won Yang international fame through its best direction prize at Cannes.  The film centres on the struggles (rather than the solution of the problems) of middle-class businessman NJ (Nien-Jen Wu).  His problems arise from his company, his comatose mother-in-law, but mostly a past love affair with Sherry (Su-Yun Ko) that never came to fruition.  The film also contains autobiographical moments.  The scene where NJ angrily blames Sherry for forcing him to study engineering against his wishes is particularly moving for the fact that director Yang himself was an engineer himself before moving to filmmaking.  Yang’s message is the recurring solution (to move forward) he offers at various parts of the film.  “Everyday is a different day,” Japanese (Issei Ogata) businessman’s advises and “What seems huge in the past is now inconsequential”, NJ tells Sherry.  Yang shoots in his customary style of his actors moving into fixed frames, the result often being certain events occurring out of frame like the wedding drinking scene.  Though running close to 3 hours, YI YI never fails to engage the viewer in a film basically about coping with life’s problems.
- screening March 15th