Du li shi dai (1994)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Edward Yang

Writers:

Hung Hung (writer)
Edward Yang (writer)

Genre:

Comedy

Awards:

3 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Shiang-chyi Chen	...	Qiqi
Yiwen Chen	...	Liren
Danny Deng	...	Larry
Hung Hung	...	Molly's brother-in-law
Elaine Jin	...	Auntie
Chen Limei	...	Molly's sister
Richie Li	...	Feng
Suk Kwan Ni	...	Molly
Bosen Wang	...	Akeem
Weiming Wang	...	Ming
Yeming Wang	...	Birdy

Also Known As:

A Confucian Confusion (International: English title)
Du li shih dai (Taiwan)

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

Taiwan

Language:

Mandarin | Taiwanese

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Taipei, Taiwan

Company:

AtomFilms

Movie Connections:

References Sien nui yau wan (1987)

Neat, nice made

When I first came across 'A Confucian Confusion', I expected nothing much. I was wrong, very wrong. It turned out to be a great movie. On one of your 'average' days, go to a video store, then rent and watch it. I guarantee it will be the best thing on your day. ('Average' here means the rest of the days when you don't win lotto or have a date of your life)

The film looks at a sample of modern Taiwanese life. Edward Yang the director, who won some awards for his later film 'Mahjong', focuses at a different part of the taiwanese society. If in 'Mahjong' he tells the story through the darker gangsters-like fraction of the population, here he puts a light above a 'whiter' group of people, mid to upper class men and women trying to cope with the fast living in the money-driven, ever growing Taipei. And that's all the film's about, a window to some Taipei lives in particular and modern taiwan in general. A society as a result, not necessarily an effect, of the very old Confucian philosophy.

Although this movie is categorized as a comedy, don't expect to laugh out loud during this 90 or so minutes. The most you can get are some subtle smiles and a big one out of satisfaction five minutes after it ends, realizing what a great movie it was.

The comedy may come from some 'very interesting'(bizarre, weird, ultra square, whatever you call it) characters, which make a very interesting but incredibly believable premise. This is possible since the story circles around the showbiz, the 'funny' business.

Excellent performances add a hell lot of greatness to this movie. Well, I couldn't say more. You just have to watch it yourself to appreciate this wonderful film.