Yi Yi
about time i watched some more taiwanese cinema, i have absolutely loved the style and topics! a rather long review here. i don't want to forget, but maybe someone can take a picture of the back of my head for me.
when i first was reading about this, the only things that stood out were that it was in a realist style and was almost 3 hours long. not necessarily things that excited me. nevertheless, i watched it because it's been raved about everywhere.
the main idea of this film is about how much of our lives are determined and encompassed by the things we don't see, like the back of our heads. this idea has been explained in countless ways, so you can read about that in other people's reviews. chances are, i agree. after all, when you look at the back of people's heads, they tend to look more alike.
so instead, i want to attempt to express the feeling this movie injected me with for its runtime. this isn't going to make a lot of sense, but i want to try. at a base level, it was a mix of melancholy, childlike joy, ecstasy, boredom, relief, sadness, grief, and any number of other emotions. oh my god. i guess out of all of these emotions and feelings, the things that stood out to me most were of clarity and ... some other emotion i still don't know the name of.
so, what is that other emotion? with that profound clarity, how can it be that there is another emotion i can't name or describe? it's some sort of calm joy, but not tranquility or serenity. there is a level of grief and sadness to it. there is a purpose to this feeling. there is a purposelessness to it. there isn't a disgust or hatred in it, but there isn't a feeling of fondness for anything in particular either. it's not boredom or ambivalence or neutrality. there's nostalgia and love. there's beauty and messiness to it.
sometimes in life, you can feel like you've felt everything there is to feel, and everything in life is just some variation of that with different circumstances. that's the point of movies and of art in general. consolidated and carefully crafted works of art explore these new emotions.
eventually these new emotions will pass, and i will forget about them. perhaps i'll even delete this review! but isn't there something beautiful in that? even though we can't see the back of our heads, the things behind us still exist and still affect how we feel, and creep up behind us? okay. maybe that got a little creepy.
on a semi-related note, my brother got me a polaroid. came at the perfect time. though i don't think he reads my letterboxd, thanks bean.
if you want to watch this movie, it's free on criterion. i saw someone describe it as a "slice of life epic," and i think that works really well.
here are some small notes about the film itself:- ato was a REAL ONE. top ten bromies- loved all their stories, but ting ting's stood out most to me. maybe because I'm closest in age to her and related to her a lot- i wanna rewatch this with someone. i have a feeling i'm going to dread it because it's so slow, but i feel i can trust this movie to hook me back in- the framing is unique and the colors are muted but with beautiful colors- totally valid not to marry someone who doesn't like music