The Cinematheque

July 20 & 28 Matinees Added

“The work of a master in full command of the resources of his art.”

A.O. Scott, The New York Times

Intimate yet epic, tender but truthful, rooted in realism while unafraid to summon magic, Yi Yi is Edward Yang’s beloved final feature, a virtual summation of the director’s signature themes and tonal range. Winner of Best Director at Cannes and recently named ​“The Best Film of the 21st Century (So Far)” by The Hollywood Reporter, this universally revered work revolves around a middle-class Taipei family weathering the vicissitudes of life, love, and death over a year. Its trio of perspectives—deftly balanced, sometimes mirrored—belongs to husband NJ (Wu Nien-jen), a businessman unexpectedly reunited with an old flame; his teenage daughter (Kelly Lee), tormented by her perceived part in her grandmother’s stroke; and his young son (Jonathan Chang), probing reality with his father’s camera. Though not oblivious to the cruelties of the world, Yi Yi is buoyed by an unmistakable warmth and sense of quietude. A film to cherish and hold close.

In Mandarin, Hokkien, Japanese, and English with English subtitles

“A delicate film but a strong one, graced with the ability to see life whole, the grief hidden in happiness as well as the humor inherent in sadness.”

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

“Yang’s most complex and inclusive portrait … A wonderfully engrossing experience—a lucid, elegant, nuanced, humorous melodrama that orchestrates a soap opera season’s worth of family crises with a virtuoso discretion.”

J. Hoberman, The Village Voice