Yi Yi (2000)
"Yi yi" (original title)

Each member of a family in Taipei asks hard questions about life's meaning as they live through everyday quandaries. NJ is morose: his brother owes him money, his mother is in a coma, his ... See full summary »

Director:

Edward Yang

Writer:

Edward Yang

Stars:

Nien-Jen Wu, Elaine Jin, Issei Ogata

14 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Credited 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:
Josephine A. Blankstein	...	(as An-an Hsu)
Yiwen Chen

Storyline

Each member of a family in Taipei asks hard questions about life's meaning as they live through everyday quandaries. NJ is morose: his brother owes him money, his mother is in a coma, his wife suffers a spiritual crisis when she finds her life a blank, his business partners make bad decisions against his advice, and he reconnects with his first love 30 years after he dumped her. His teenage daughter Ting-Ting watches emotions roil in their neighbors' flat and is experiencing the first stirrings of love. His 8-year-old son Yang-Yang is laconic like his dad and pursues truth with the help of a camera. "Why is the world so different from what we think it is?" asks Ting-Ting.

---

Plot Keywords:

love | business | coma | neighbor | camera | 

---

Genres:

Drama | Music | Romance

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Taiwan Japan

Language:

Mandarin Min Nan Hokkien English Japanese

Release Date:

16 December 2000 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Yi Yi

Filming Locations:

Taipei City, Taiwan

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$9,456 (USA) (6 October 2000)

Gross:

$235,951 (USA) (7 September 2001)

Company Credits

Production Co:

AtomFilms, Nemuru Otoko Seisaku Iinkai, Omega Project

Technical Specs

Runtime:

173 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Chosen by "Les Cahiers du cinéma" (France) as one of the ten best pictures of 2000 (#7, tied with The Virgin Suicides).

---

Quotes

Yang-Yang: I'm sorry, Grandma. It wasn't that I didn't want to talk to you. I think all the stuff I could tell you... You must already know. Otherwise, you wouldn't always tell me to 'Listen!' They all say you've gone away. But you didn't tell me where you went. I guess it's someplace you think I should know. But, Grandma, I know so little. Do you know what I want to do when I grow up? I want to tell people things they don't know. Show them stuff they haven't seen. It'll be so much fun. Perhaps one day......

---

Connections

References Wild Wild West (1999)

---

Soundtracks

"Sonata in C-sharp Minor, Op. 27, No.2, Moonlight"
Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven
Performed by Kai-Li Peng

User Reviews

About as good as film can get

This is without a doubt the best film of 2000, a masterpiece of sublety and understatement. It is long--just under three hours--but during that three hours, the entire range of human experience is covered. It is about life--that's it. But, to make a statement about life, you have to illustrate it with lives, and this Yang does exquisitely. There is a tragic undercurrent running through this film, and while I was watching it I thought of Thoreau's observation that "most men lead lives of quiet desperation." Yet, in spite of the travails the film's characters undergo, it is ultimately a work of affirmation. This is about as good as the art of cinema can get.