FILM REVIEW
Directed and written by Edward Yang, Yi Yi is a Taiwanese drama that centers on three members of the Jian family. The middle-aged father, NJ, tries to curry favor with a Japanese client and reconnects with a past love. The teenage daughter, Ting-Ting, is faced with her first romantic relationship. And the eight-year-old son, Yang-Yang, has troubles at school.
These events unfold within an urban Taiwan saturated with the rumblings of Western modernity, which was one of the main concerns of the Taiwanese New Wave Cinema, of which Yi Yi is a part of (Jones, 2011). There’s a very fast-paced upheaval of Taiwanese values during this time, and the film captures that essence through the characters’ troubles.
Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival where Yang won the Best Director Award, Yi Yi is a slow-burn film. But the slow pace isn’t just for style, rather it’s part of the meaning of the film. I would’ve rated Yi Yi a solid 5 stars because I learned so much from it, but I really only enjoyed the film insofar as the ideas it gave me rather than my experience of watching it. Unless, I just got too used to the fast pace and quick cuts of mainstream cinema.
Yi Yi a quiet, humble film that portrays real life as it is. This is not the film to watch if you want to escape reality. But if you want to probe reality, then this is for you.
*spoilers ahead*
TAKE-AWAY 1: THE CYCLICAL NATURE OF LIFE
Some say that time does not move in a straight line, but spirals. It’s cyclical. This means that similar to how history repeats itself, our lives have an epicenter we go back to time and time again.
The film basically started where it ended—so many significant events happened (wedding, funeral, murder, birth, trip abroad) yet so little actually changed with the Jians’ circumstances. NJ is still with his family and still with his company, and Ting-Ting is still single and lacks friends. Yi Yi argues that real life is pretty much like that–a spiral. You move away from an epicenter only to find yourself there again, just a little farther away.
A friend explained Yi Yi’s thesis to me with, “In the end, and maybe this is more of the Chinese psyche, we go with the pragmatic option and let things be.” As movie-goers, however, we’ve been conditioned to expect stories to end with drastic changes to the characters’ circumstances, which is why some viewers can be left unsatisfied with Yi Yi’s ending.
Jones (2011) asks the audience though, “What exactly has changed, and what exactly has stayed the same?” Certainly, while the characters’ circumstances stayed the same, their interiorities changed. They grew and they learned. Ting-Ting for example, realized that a romantic relationship is not as perfect and exciting as she expected it to be. And there’s so much value in that growth because she will navigate life now armed with those newfound lessons.
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TAKE-AWAY 2: THE MONOTONY OF EVERY DAY
This theme is most evident when Min-Min, the matriarch of the Jians, said, “I have nothing to say to mother. I tell her the same things every day—what I did in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening. It only takes a minute. I can’t bear it. I have so little. How can it be so little? I live a blank! Everyday…everyday… I’m always doing the same things. What am I doing everyday?”
Especially with the rush of productivity demanded by modern-day capitalism, people can indeed sleepwalk through their lives. It was only when Min-Min’s mother was comatosed did Min-Min stop and realize that she had been living a monotonous life. She didn’t know how to cope with that realization, which is why she escaped to a Buddhist retreat (where ironically, there’s more of that monotony).
This monotony of life is certainly more palpable during the pandemic. We feel it. But knowing that everyday life is naturally monotonous can be comforting; knowing this can render the monotony less jarring like how it shocked Min-Min. It lowers one’s expectations. Hence, I suppose if someone approached life romantically and had high expectations of the exciting world out there, they’ll be drastically dissatisfied with the real monotony of everyday life.
Still, while we live our day to day lives pretty much the same, we also get to renew our relationships with people, think about things a little more, learn more, and feel things over and over again each day. And there’s so much worth in that.
TAKE-AWAY 3: THE BANALITY OF IMPORTANT EVENTS
Ehrlich (2020) observed, “The Jians are revealed to themselves through unexpected encounters, all of which are rendered with such quotidian grace that you hardly clock their profound importance at the time.” We never really know when events have significant effects on our lives within the moment we experience them. It is really only afterwards do we “clock their profound importance.” This is because every moment feels mundane.
For example, other movies would portray weddings or a first kiss or graduation with so much grandiose and fireworks and dramatic music that when they happen in real life, people tend to expect these fireworks and grand music to happen too. But more often than not, they don’t. Events portrayed extraordinarily onscreen have always felt painfully plain and mundane to me when they happen in real life. Life is mundane, and I appreciate that the film is honest with that humble fact.
Yi Yi accomplished this effect by using filmic techniques that enhance realism. It’s filled with long takes and its soundtrack mainly has soft piano tunes. Conversations are not interspersed with cuts, and the camera takes its time as it films characters walking and waiting and watching.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
Yi Yi‘s depiction of women is not that good, which is why I stopped halfway through watching it. I couldn’t stomach some parts of the film, but a friend pushed me to keep on watching and I’m so happy I did. This film contains a lot of wisdom, and watching it despite some problematic representations made me realize that I’ll be missing out on a whole range of films, and the wisdom that comes with them, if I eliminate every single movie that doesn’t depict women fairly. So, I hope audiences watched this with a grain of salt.
Yi Yi ultimately puts the simplicity and mundanity of life at the forefront, which is a rare but brutally truthful thing for me to watch. This film made me more content with what I have, and I hope it fills you with the same kind of peace too.
WORKS CITED
Ehrlich, D. (2020, May 22). Stream of the Day: Edward Yang’s ‘Yi Yi’ Reflects the Richness of Our Own Lives. IndieWire. https://www.indiewire.com/2020/05/stream-of-the-day-yi-yi-edward-yang-watch-on-criterion-channel-1202233009/.
Jones, K. (2011, March 15). Yi Yi: Time and Space. The Criterion Collection. https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/429-yi-yi-time-and-space.
Yang, E. (2000). Yi Yi. Taiwan.
I would love to know what you feel was wrong with female representation in the film? I’m very curious about your thoughts.
Wonderful essay btw. I thoroughly enjoyed it.