Yi yi (2000)

Director:

Edward Yang

Writer:

Edward Yang (written by)

Release Date:

20 September 2000 (France)

Genre:

Drama | Music | Romance

Plot:

Each member of a family in Taipei asks hard questions about life's meaning as they live through everyday quandaries...

Plot Keywords:

Love | Coma | Business | Money | First Love

Awards:

9 wins & 11 nominations

Cast

Nien-Jen Wu	...	N.J.
Elaine Jin	...	Min-Min
Issei Ogata	...	Ota
Kelly Lee	...	Ting-Ting
Jonathan Chang	...	Yang-Yang
Hsi-Sheng Chen	...	Ah-Di
Su-Yun Ko	...	Sherry
Shu-shen Hsiao	...	Hsiao Yen
Adriene Lin	...	Li-Li
Pang Chang Yu	...	Fatty
Ru-Yun Tang	...	NJ's Mother
Shu-Yuan Hsu
Hsin-Yi Tseng	...	Yun-Yun
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yiwen Chen
An-an Hsu
Yue-Lin Ko	...	The Soldier (as Ke Yulun)
Kai-Li Peng	...	Cellist in cello concert scene
Congsheng Tang	...	Blue Shirt
Edward Yang	...	Pianist in cello concert scene

Also Known As:

Yan Yan - Natsu no omoide (Japan)
Yi yi: A One and a Two... (International: English title)

Runtime:

173 min

Country:

Taiwan | Japan

Language:

Mandarin | Taiwanese | Hokkien | English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Portugal:M/12 | Finland:S | France:U | Germany:6 | Hong Kong:IIA | South Korea:All | Spain:13 | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:Not Rated | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Taipei City, Taiwan

Company:

AtomFilms

Trivia:

Chosen by British film magazine "Sight and Sound" in 2002 as one of the ten greatest films of the past 25 years.

Movie Connections:

References Wild Wild West (1999)

Soundtrack:

Cello Sonata No.1 in F-Major, Op 5-1

Do You See What I See?

Yang Yang the boy character in the film takes pictures to help those around him see what they cannot, and Yang the director takes pictures to help us see what we usually do not - that every moment of life is beautiful, deep, wonderful, rich.

Yang masterfully uses the everyday things of life on a least two levels - the literal and the figurative - beginning with the title of the film, which means literally "one one" (in Chinese) or "individual", but is presented as a Chinese "one" on the screen, followed slowly by another Chinese "one" appearing on the screen below it, which then becomes "two". (In Chinese, one is a single line, and two is two singles lines, one above the other.)

We are individuals, together. Our lives involve us, and others. Our lives involve relationships, get their meanings from relationships.

Relationships like that of little boy Yang Yang's encounters with girls, violent at first as they poke him from behind (in the back of his head, where he cannot see), and he pops balloons in their faces, scaring them. And then as the electricity builds between them, between Yang Yang and the girl in his school, just as in the nature film in the science lesson presented in the audio-visual classroom, passion as an electrical spark comes to his life.

There is Yang Yang's sister Ting Ting in the school of life too, with her ever-present potted plant that cannot seem to bloom. In class, she is told that overfeeding can cause it not to bloom - and Ting Ting herself tries too hard to bloom, longing for "music in her life" as she listens to the concert duet played by a man and a woman while she glances at her date, the boy called "Fatty" - he is slim but does he dine too much at life's banquet? (That question is answered later, as violent storms - storms of love, of life - pass overhead, not expected again "until Thursday".) Ting Ting wears white, and could be at her wedding, but she is not.

Their dad, NJ, does manage to find the music of his life once again when he encounters Sherry, the flame of his youth. They take a train back into time they remember as simple and romantic, but the memories of the past veil the complexities that existed then, and now, for the two of them.

NJ's wife Ming Ming wishes to escape. Her work colleague Nancy asks her, "You're still here?" to which she replies "Where can I go?"

Indeed, where can we go? No, we must stay and wake up each day, and try to remember that each day is a first time, that we never live the same day twice, as enchanting Mr. Ota, NJ's potential business partner, reminds him, and us.