Taipei Story (1985)

Lung is a former member of the national Little League team who lives with his old childhood sweetheart Ah-chin, a traditional family woman. Although they live together, Ah-chin is weary of Lung's past liaison with another girl.

Director:

Edward Yang

Writers:

T'ien-wen Chu, Hsiao-Hsien Hou

Stars:

Chin Tsai, Hsiao-Hsien Hou, I-Chen Ko

3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Chin Tsai	...	Chin
Hsiao-Hsien Hou	...	Lung
I-Chen Ko
Su-Yun Ko	...	Gwan
Nien-Jen Wu	...	Taxi driver
Hsiu-Ling Lin	...	A-Ling
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Shu-Fang Chen	...	Mrs. Mei
Te-Nan Lai
De-ming Lyu
Fang Mei
Peng Sun
Nai-Chu Ting
Ping-Nan Wu
Li-Yin Yang	...	Qin
Shu-yao Yang

Storyline

Lung, a former member of the national Little League team and now operator of an old-style fabric business, is never able to shake a longing for his past glory. One day, he runs into a forme teammate who is now a struggling cab driver. The two talk about old times and they are struck by a sense of loss. Lung is living with his old childhood sweetheart Ah-chin, a westernized professional woman who grew up in a traditional family. Although they live together, Ah-chin is always weary of Lung's past liason with another girl. After an argument, Ah-chin tris to find solace by hanging out with her sister's friends, a group of westernized, hedonistic youths.

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Plot Keywords:

woman slaps a man | voice over | telephone conversation | cigarette smoking | death | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #879.

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Quotes

Lung: He killed someone once. A black person. Later the police came and he was acquitted. He said that in the States, if you see a suspicious person in your yard, and if you can shoot them dead, drag them into your house and plant an unregistered gun on them. They call it self-defense. You're not guilty.

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Connections

Featured in Century of Cinema: Yang ± Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema (1998)

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Soundtracks

Cello Suite No.2 in D Minor, BWV.1008 Prelude
Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach

User Reviews

A City of Sadness

Taiwan is a noisy world where modernity is settling very (too) quickly under Japanese and American influences. Taipei Story depicts the life of those in the Taiwanese middle class, the so-called Asian Tigers, and the grimness and competitive struggle for survival ushered in by the economic changes in Taiwan. Its a movie about personal tragedies to the changes themselves (modernization, Westernization, globalization, technology), to the weaknesses of individuals.

Taipei Story contains a lot of "casual scenes" which holds low value to the overall story but an enormous amount to the general atmospherical feel to the film. Together with these scenes, the tranquillizing still and slow photo and let alone the slow pacing of the movie, let's us better get a grip of understanding about the life the people involved in the story.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

Taiwan

Language:

Min Nan Mandarin Hokkien

Release Date:

1985 (Taiwan)

Also Known As:

Taipei Story

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,333, 19 March 2017

Gross USA:

$12,897

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$35,336

Company Credits

Production Co:

Evergreen Film Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1