Yi Yi (2000)

Just what I expected

An Exercise In Nonsense

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

The movie is a reflection of the lives of many, mainly a man named NJ. Its the nonchalant, uneventful, lost love and regrets filled life of NJ who doesn't do anything heroic or Hollywood but does what most of us would do - live life as it goes on. There is a heavy dose of reality injected into every character's dreams. The coulda-woulda that never becomes real. The teenage love that goes horribly wrong, the single adventurous mother who permanently changes the lives of the children who face the consequences for her lifestyle. Everything about humanity and human life is in this movie in all its normality. Its a mirror to what really goes on in most of our lives - the utter contradiction of dreams, fantasies, everlasting love, etc.

Once again misled by the laurels on the DVD cover.I should know by now to avoid films that arty critics rave about. The same with The Tree of Life, totally overrated typical of arty Venice film festival Palme d'or winners. e.g. ,Blue is the warmest colour, The white Ribbon Leave etc; Leave domesticity and art to the French its their forte. But this film all so depressing overlong and meanders. No wonder it was not released in Taiwan. And it means one one not One and two or either some ones name. I am a great fan of Asian films but this one does not even begin to touch The Professors favourite Equation (, The House maid, Ip Man, Assembly, My sassy Girl, Hello stranger, Money not Enough. These films not only entertain but give us a great insight to Asian thinking and society without the depressing slowness of Yi Yi

Three light-on-its-feet hours long, the film starts with a wedding, ends with a funeral and in between captures what seems like a lifetime of experience. The story is about the emotional struggles of a businessman and the lives of his middle-class Taiwanese family in Taipei seen through three generations.Yi Yi: A One And A Two is a marvellous multi-generational drama from one of the leading lights of Taiwanese cinema Edward Yang, hovering at a delicate remove from its characters but conveying volumes about their hopes and disappointments. The film won for Yang the Best Director Award at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, where it also debuted.

There is an eight year-old boy in Yi Yi who reminds me of myself as a child. His name is Yang Yang. He is a Taiwanese little guy and he's as cute as any kid in the movies. Like me, he speaks seldom, but his head is full of thoughts. Often, he doesn't even answer when a family member or a teacher asks him a question. His longest speech by far comes at the end of the film when he approaches his Grandmother's coffin and reads several sentences he's painstakingly written out in his school notebook. What he says there is truly worth hearing, and I won't spoil it by telling you anymore about it.Instead I'll tell you about another thing he says to his. He asks, "Can we only know half the truth?" He explains that he has noticed that he can never see what's behind him, only what's ahead of him. The father is impressed by the question, but unable to answer it. At the heart of this movie is this Taiwanese family of four: The father, NJ, the mother, Min Min, a teenage daughter named Ting Ting, and little Yang Yang. They are a middle class family who always treat each other with gentleness and respect. There is little evidence of disharmony between them- only a hint that there isn't a strong emotional connection between Mom and Dad; respect, yes, but perhaps not love. All four of them are good people who try to treat others with dignity. Yet, though they are a family and they live together, though they care about one another, they never know more than half the truth about each other. Each of them goes through a series of deeply affecting experiences and for the most part they go through it alone. The family may have a sense that something is up, but they don't really know what.NJ is a partner in an electronics firm. He started the company with a university friend but now years later it's apparent that they are very different men. When the company is in negotiations with a Japanese video game developer named Ota, the partner suggests that NJ be the one to take Ota for dinner. "You're good at acting honest." "Is that what we're doing when we're being honest," NJ asks, "Acting?" NJ is not initially enthused about the partnership with Ota but he is taken by surprise when he meets the man. They are kindred spirits, men of integrity. NJ is able to tell Ota some things that he may never have said to anyone else. There is a special treat here for English speaking audiences- because Ota and NJ do not speak each other's languages, they speak to one another in English. The fact that their English is not perfect in no way impedes the power of the profound things they say to one another. In fact, in some way it enhances it.Min Min is NJ's wife and she works at some kind of large firm. Early in the film her mother falls into a coma and Min Min insists that everyone in the family will take turns speaking to Grandma. She is upset when Yang Yang doesn't want to do it, but when she comes to take her turn she finds that she has little to say. She is confronted by a hard question. Can the whole story of my day be told in three rather dull sentences? Do I really have nothing else to communicate? She decides to go to a monastery in search of meaning, and throughout much of the movie she is significant by her absence.Ting Ting is a gentle teenage girl who carries a very deep hurt that she only reveals to her Grandma. The rest of the family has no idea. Perhaps if they knew they might be able to help her through it, but who knows about that? Sometimes our family can share our grief and lighten our burden, but at other times they can make it worse. Ting Ting may be too ashamed to let anyone know. I won't say where that thread of the story goes, but it's worth following it to its completion. Ting Ting is also involved in what, in the ordinary order of things, would be the most astounding and disturbing event in the entire movie. But in this film it almost passes unnoticed. One senses that the rest of the family may not even know it's happened.Finally, little Yang Yang- he suffers from the kinds of things that happen to many little kids, but even though they are typical troubles they are no less painful. His family doesn't know what's going on with him, and even when they think they do, they are frequently wrong. He lacks the words to explain so he just stares at the floor and keeps his thoughts to himself. Yang Yang is also on a mission, or perhaps several missions. The audience is let in on the secret of many of the things he's up to, but even we are not allowed to understand all of it. The family knows less, but if they pay attention, every once in a while he opens a window into his soul and tells them something important. Although there are some extraordinary events that happen over the course of the film, most of what takes place is strictly in the realm of the ordinary. It shows us that everyday events are packed with as much power as the events that make the news, and the burdens of an eight year old are as heavy as those of a grown man. It reminds us that we may never understand how happy or sad things are for the person sitting across the breakfast table from us.