Nothing seems to happen in some films. In others, everything occurs at once. Taiwanese auteur Edward Yangâs mesmerizing drama âYi Yiâ (2000) deftly bridges this dichotomy, detailing the monotony of adulthood while also illuminating the complex emotional upheavals that strain even the closest of familial bonds.
Situated in Taipei, Yangâs film follows the lives of the intergenerational, working-class Jian family through the perspectives of three individuals: a disillusioned engineer and father NJ (Wu Nien-jen), his reserved adolescent daughter Ting-Ting (Kelly Lee), and his uncannily perceptive eight-year-old son Yang-Yang (Jonathan Chang), who uses his camera as a means of making sense of the world. By braiding together these three narratives, Yang communicates the unique challenges of each stage of life while emphasizing shared themes of change, loss, and longing.