A Birghter Summer Day

I was compelled to seek out Taiwanese director Edward Yang's epic semi-autobiographical film A Brighter Summer Day (1991), because I was so impressed with his first film I saw, Yi Yi. It's a film that on one level is a family drama, on another level a kind of social history, which is immersed in issues like that of identity and national pride and culture. The story is loosely based on a 1961 incident from the filmmaker's childhood (a highly publicized case that had also led to the prosecution of the first juvenile trial in Taiwan). The film is an understated, insightful, and richly textured account of social uncertainty and cultural anxiety of transplanted Chinese as they attempt to rebuild their lives in a newly created nation after being consigned to an unimagined life of exile. There are also stories of first love, discord among gangs, the continuing legacy of Japanese occupation, and the looming specter of the future in 50s. Rock and roll plays a roll in the turbulent times in which the youth of Taiwan are searching for their roles in a postwar society. On yet another level it's a personal story of torment. Its narrative flow is compelling and original-it is almost four hours in length. The fluidity of the storytelling makes the disquieting, harrowing incidents conveyed throughout resonant. The film is epic in scope and ambition and probably demands additional viewings to fully take in all the thematical issues at stake in the film.