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Taiwan · 1991
3h 57m
Director Edward Yang
Starring Chang Chen, Lisa Yang, Elaine Jin, Chen Shiang-Chyi
Genre Crime, Drama, Romance
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Much to his parents' chagrin, junior high student Xiao Si'r is forced to attend night school, changing his life forever. Adventurous, soft-spoken, but bold, Xiao Si'r soon experiences adolescent love, unforgettable friendships, gang violence, and harsh injustices --- all set against the backdrop of 1960s Taiwan.
It's in his generous, objective use of long shots and spare but startling close-ups that we see once again the influence of Robert Altman in Yang's aesthetic and the struggle of the Taiwanese people to accept their history. In essence, Yang uses his aesthetic to bring into the light that which is dark.
The New York Times by A.O. Scott
It is a crowded, complex crime story that is also a tale of sexual awakening and an understated exercise in kitchen-sink realism. In short - or rather at mesmerizing, necessary length - this film has everything, and is well worth a day of your life.
The Guardian by Jordan Hoffman
What makes this such a striking film is how the larger scope works perfectly in tandem with the very specific time and setting.
The New Yorker by Richard Brody
The story...opens out into a dazzling multigenerational array of characters, as well as a panoply of trenchant themes.
Yang's anti-nostalgic slice of 1960s Taipei life suggests a Tolstoy-size expansion of the ballads from Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town.
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