A Brighter Summer Day

Plot

Edward Yang's fifth picture is a novelistic exploration of the meanings and contradictions of Taiwanese cultural identity. Set in 1960, and based on a true incident weighing heavily on Yang's own youth, the film -- which, in its unedited form, clocks in at just under four hours -- primarily focuses on the life of S'ir, a high school student whose civil servant father was among the millions of Chinese mainlanders who fled to Taipei in the wake of 1949's civil uprisings. In the picture's opening scenes, it is revealed that S'ir is teetering on the brink of academic expulsion; like so many of the film's characters, he is clearly yearning for a stronger sense of belonging, and as a result joins a youth gang, much to the detriment of his life at home and at school. In time, he falls for Ming, a flirtatious girl with domestic troubles of her own; this ill-fated couple's circle of friends also includes Honey, an exiled gang leader, Si'r's best friend Xiao Ma, and Cat, a younger boy obsessed with Elvis Presley. (The lyrics to Presley's "Are You Lonesome Tonight?," phonetically transcribed by Si'r's older sister, lend the film its title.) ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

Review

The Taiwan portrayed in A Brighter Summer Day is a world in limbo, a dislocated society desperately seeking to make sense of itself; towards that end, the social landscape reflected by Edward Yang is one cobbled together of elements from other cultures -- in addition to the American rock'n'roll which dictates not only the musical tastes of Si'r and his friends but also their ill-fitting greaser fashions, the plot's touchstones also include a Japanese sword, Hollywood films, a Russian novel (War and Peace, specifically) and Christianity. In essence, lacking a socio- historical foundation of their own, Yang's characters attempt to discover and define themselves within the context of the global cultural overflow, creating patchwork identies from whatever pieces they can fit together. Conversely, Yang's own sense of milieu is unparalleled -- A Brighter Summer Day is a brilliant physical and social realization of the world of his childhood, a truly literary film energized by its complex, criss-crossing narratives. To call the film a Taiwanese Rebel Without a Cause is not entirely unfair -- in addition to similar existential crises and a largely nocturnal atmosphere, Yang's feeling for and understanding of youth culture is comparable to Nicholas Ray's -- but it fails to properly convey the unique vision and haunting power of the former's achievement, easily among the greatest works Taiwanese cinema has yet to produce. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

Cast

• Chang Kuo-Shu - Father
• Elaine Jin - Mother
• Wang Juan - Older Sister
• Chang Han - Older Brother

Jiang Xihong

Credit

Yu Weiyen - Art Director, Edward Yang - Art Director, Edward Yang - Director, Chen Bowen - Editor, Li Longyu - Cinematographer, Zhang Huigong - Cinematographer, Edward Yang - Screenwriter, Yan Hongya - Screenwriter, Yang Shunqing - Screenwriter, Lai Mingtang - Screenwriter

Previous:	A Brighter Future (2010 Film), A Bright Shining Lie (1998 Film)
Next:	A Brivele der Mamen (1938 Film), A Broadway Saint (1919 Film)