Saturday, March 5, 2011

"Yi Yi: A One and a Two" by Edward Yang

 Yi Yi is an epic story about the Taipei Jian family seen through three different perspectives: the middle-aged father NJ (Nien-Jen Wu), the young son Yang-Yang (Jonathan Chang), and the teenage daughter, Ting-Ting (Kelly Lee). The three-hour piece starts with a wedding, concludes with a funeral, and contemplates areas of human life in between. The father, NJ, is unsatisfied with his work and the desire of his business partners to enter into a deal with a well-known Japanese videogame company. While his partners are only concerned about making money, NJ finds that his honest nature unappreciated in the commercial realm; to his surprise, he finds a soulmate in the Japanese software mogul, Ota. A former old flame tries to walk into his life after a chance reunion. His youngest son has troubles at school with his teachers, while his daughter has to handle a love triangle with her best friend's boyfriend and her best friend. All three try to deal with their problems while also caring for NJ's aged mother-in-law, who is in a coma, and in the absence of NJ's wife, who has left for a Buddhist retreat after facing anexistentialist midlife crisis. In addition, Ah-Di, NJ's overweight brother-in-law who marries at the start of the film, has to wrestle with his demanding wife and a former love, complicating matters within this extended family.
The other Taiwanese cast members include Elaine Jin as NJ's wife, Min-MinSu-Yun Ko as NJ's former love Sherry, Hsi-Sheng Chen as Ah-Di, and Pang Chang Yu as Fatty. The film also stars Japanese comedian Issei Ogata as a Japanese software mogul, Ota.
砂入:長い長い映画だったが、少し長過ぎる気も。しかしヤンヤンの最後のおばあちゃんへの手紙がとても素敵だった。

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