Yi Yi (2001)

"Only rarely is a film this observant and tender about the ups and downs of daily existence." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

"A lucid, elegant, nuanced, humorous movie…A wonderfully engrossing experience." - J. Hoberman, The Village Voice

“An intimate epic...In exchange for three hours of your time, 'Yi Yi' will give you more life.” - A.O. Scott, The New York Times

The multigenerational story of a Taiwanese family – two parents, two children, and an elderly grandmother – living in a small apartment in Taipei, Yi Yi (translated as 'A One and a Two') is about the patterns of daily life, from a wedding to a funeral, from the first date to the last, from birth to death.  A father whose business needs a new-media fix from a Japanese swami (the marvelous Issey Ogata), a mother who seeks solace in a Buddhist retreat; other hearts break from romantic despair or break down from old age.  These are the delicately observed emotional struggles of a middle class Taiwanese family seen through the eyes of three generations.

Widely hailed as one of the most important directors in contemporary cinema, Edward Yang won the Best Director prize at Cannes for this careful, direct, meticulously photographed film. Yi Yi was also named Best Foreign Language Film by the New York Film Critics Circle and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and was selected as one of the top ten greatest films of the past twenty-five years by British film magazine Sight and Sound (right alongside Raging Bull and Apocalypse Now). Yi Yi is not only essential viewing, it's essential for your soul.

173 minutes