Yi Yi
I hear the term "masterpiece" thrown around a lot, but it's rare I agree during a first time watch that a film is in fact a masterpiece. Yi Yi is the exception.
This is a film I absolutely did not expect to like. It's 3 hours long, about a Taiwanese family doing mundane activities, after I already had been underwhelmed by director Edward Yang's other highly acclaimed film A Brighter Summer Day. But then watching Yi Yi I was stunned by just how emotionally connected I was throughout.
The story follows NJ, an engineer, and his very normal, unexceptional family, as they navigate normal, unexceptional challenges. It's that simplicity that helps make them feel so real, and why I cared about them. For a film with such a mundane seeming premise, there's actually a ton of stuff going on plot-wise, most of it organized around a few characters, four of whom I'll outline here as a lot of plot surrounds them.
NJ is the Dad, he is trying to have a relationship with his kids, Yang Yang and Ting-Ting. He also has to deal with his Mother-in-law being in a coma, his wife getting depressed at her Mom's situation, and his brother borrowing money then constantly losing it. NJ's business is potentially going under, and his partners are doing shady dealings, so they try to send him to smooth over potential targets because he is considered the honest man among them. And all of that becomes less important than the fact that Sherry, his childhood love interest who he still probably has feelings for, has shown up to try to restart things.
A-Di is NJ's younger brother. The film opens with his wedding to Xiao-Yan, though he also is romantically and financially involved with another woman named Yunyun who makes a scene at the wedding and later at a baby shower. A-Di is constantly taking out loans from people including NJ and Yunyun, before investing it foolishly to his associate who goes by Piggy, who seemingly has pocketed all the funds and is on the run from the cops.
Ting-Ting is NJ's high school aged daughter. I was really moved by her very human scene where she goes to grandma and asks if it was her fault, that her not taking out the trash may have put Grandma in a coma. Ting-Ting also has feelings for a guy who is dating her neighbor and seemingly best friend. The guy keeps trying to use her to send messages back and forth to his girlfriend, while Ting-Ting wants to be loved herself, especially as Grandma is now in a coma.
Yang-Yang is NJ's elementary school aged son. I think in a lot of ways he's a stand-in for writer/director Edward Yang thinking on his own childhood. Yang-Yang tries to connect with his Dad, but Dad has a lot on his plate, so Yang-Yang is off in his own world most of the time. Girls pick on him, including one girl who probably has a crush on him, and seemingly he feels the same way about her though he doesn't know how to tell her. He tries to learn swimming because he sees that she's a swimmer. He picks up photography as a hobby, first photographing mosquitoes, and later deciding to photograph the back of people's heads, because it's the side they never see of themselves. Yang-Yang's dialogue shows him constantly thinking about how people can only see what's in front of them, and don't have the benefit of hindsight.
Even just writing the summaries of those four characters is already a ton of plot, and that's not even factoring in Min-Min the Mom character, or Lili's relationships with her boyfriend and teacher that have significant implications as well. It's seriously a ton of story so even at 3 hours, Yi Yi never felt boring to me my brain and my heart were always actively working to piece everything together.
The interweaving family stories often take note of how actions of one generation are unintentionally copied by the next generation. Watching the young kids try to start their own relationships parallels the rekindled memories NJ and Sherry have of their own first love many years ago. Yang-Yang is drawn to his love interest but doesn't say anything, just like NJ didn't know how to approach Sherry for years back when they were young. Ting-Ting and her love interest get a hotel room together, but then the couple act in the same way NJ and Sherry did when they were that age.
This comes back to the theme of the piece being summed up by Yang-Yang's surprisingly insightful photography project (also shown in the film's poster). In the moment, we don't know why we do certain things, but if we could see the whole truth from all sides we might recognize aspects of ourselves that are simply part of us, that influenced why we acted the way we did.
Many characters throughout the story start to realize that even though they've done lots of activities, in the end, it feels like they're right back where they started, or that they've progressed, but things are still basically the same. This ties into the title of the piece Yi Yi, meaning one by one, or one after another. The family do the same things generation after generation, and have no idea they're doing so. They act as if by fate, making the same decisions and mistakes, constantly moving forward but always winding up barely having gone anywhere. Only by seeing it on film do we the audience get to see the "backs of their heads" that they have never seen themselves.
Of course, that's all quite academic, but what stands out to me the most is that this story felt deeply emotional to me. The family's pain and fear of losing their grandmother. Ting-Ting's feeling that she could be at fault even though of course she isn't. Her desire for love in places she can't quite grasp it. NJ's repressed love bubbling back up to the surface, and his uncertainty of what to do with that. Yang-Yang's nervousness at first love, intrigue at discovering art, and desire for connection with others who barely see him. These are just a few of the ways Yi Yi gave me characters to connect with, understand, and feel for.
One of my all time favorite films is Her, by Spike Jonze. I always describe that film by saying it makes me feel deeply, and makes me think about what it means to be human, and to love. Every time I watch that film I get something new from it, wisdom into the human consciousness. After watching Yi-Yi, I think this is going into the same category. I will absolutely be rewatching this film, and it's very possible it could be one of my all time favorites when it's all said and done. At least for now, this is a film I truly think deserves to be called a masterpiece, and it's one that I look forward to rewatching in the near future.