I had heard of Edward Yang before, but I didn't realize how remarkable he was until I recently watched "Yi Yi," and it struck me that he is indeed extraordinary.
From "Yi Yi," it's evident that Edward Yang is impressive, not just because the film has won numerous awards, but because, for me, this film is both a semi-autobiographical reflection and contemplation of Yang himself, and it is profoundly deep in both its title and content, reaching the level of a world-class film. Someone on Reddit in 2023 commented that "Yi Yi" is the best film of the past 25 years.
First of all, the title of "Yi Yi" is very thoughtful. "Yi Yi," with its English title "Yi Yi: A One and A Two," was named "Yang Yang's Summer Memories" when released in Japan. The Chinese title "Yi Yi" is very simple and memorable, plain yet seemingly inseparable from our lives and studies, as if we cannot escape the concept of "one." The English title seems to contain some philosophical meaning: those familiar with Plato's philosophy would understand that his unwritten works emphasize that the entire world is ultimately composed of one and two, where the two is an indefinite two, symbolizing life and death, beginnings and endings, meaning and meaninglessness, and so on. From the Japanese title of "Yi Yi," it can be seen that the entire film is presented from Yang Yang's perspective, conveying the director's intended message, which gives a sense of humility (as if Edward Yang is saying, my thoughts are like the innocent Yang Yang, I am merely recording and contemplating naively, and perhaps my thoughts may all be wrong), and also a sense of warmth, as if a little friend nearby is narrating his little stories.
Secondly, some believe that "Yi Yi" actually tells the story of Edward Yang's life. Therefore, many professional film critics have restructured Yang's cinematic life with "Reconstructing Yi Yi: Edward Yang." This interpretative method has its own significance: it can comparatively and historically grasp Yang's intellectual concerns, interests, and changes in detail. However, this seems somewhat limited, confining "Yi Yi" merely to an interpretation of Edward Yang as a director.
Thirdly, unlike the interpretations above, I believe the brilliance of "Yi Yi" lies in the fact that the film seems to tell us that the meaning of life may be found in ordinary life. Just as Yang Yang says in the trailer for "Yi Yi": "I want to tell others things they don't know, to show them things they can't see." After watching "Yi Yi," one will find that Yang Yang's words are actually a double entendre: he indeed uses his eyes and camera to tell others unknown things, and metaphorically tells us that life may be like this, a canvas composed of contradictory elements, including desire and innocence, love and hate, regret and repentance, life and death, and so on.
After researching Edward Yang's life, my understanding of him deepened. He was an ordinary yet great filmmaker, and he had many fans.
It turns out he was originally from Shanghai and later moved to Taiwan with his parents. He loved comics from a young age, and his studies were in architectural engineering and computer science, working as an engineer in the United States for many years. Influenced by German director Werner Herzog's "Aguirre: The Wrath of God" and Michelangelo Antonioni's films (who later won the Oscar for Best Director and the Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award), he decided to return to Taiwan in 1980 to begin his screenwriting and directing career. From Douban, it can be seen that every one of his works (including those from his early career) received very high ratings and won numerous awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Golden Horse Awards. If you have seen "A Brighter Summer Day" (1982), "The Terrorizers" (1986), "A Confucian Confusion" (1994), etc., you would find that Edward Yang's films, compared to Hou Hsiao-hsien's nostalgic style, are more realistic and profound. If you have seen Hiroshi Kurosawa's films like "After the Storm" (2016) and "Shoplifters" (2018), you can see that while Kurosawa's films convey a subtle sadness within realism, Edward Yang's films are indeed real and profound, prompting deep reflection.
What surprised me is that Edward Yang always had a dream of becoming a comic artist. His love for comics began in childhood. The manga artist he admired was Osamu Tezuka, and he even paid tribute to Tezuka's "Astro Boy" with a model in "Yi Yi." (Tezuka loved insects and animals, eventually earning a doctorate in medicine, yet he dedicated himself to promoting animation.)
Later, many of his films (perhaps every television show he directed was preceded by hand-drawn comics and storyboards) featured his hand-drawn comics. Even in the last years of his life, he established a comic website, Miluku.com. From his posthumous works, it is evident that he was still holding comic drafts before his death.
Of course, Edward Yang's films are great, but after all, he is human and has some flaws. Those familiar with him surely know I am referring to his "Platonic love" with Tsai Chin that lasted for ten years. Starting from "A Brighter Summer Day" (starring Hou Hsiao-hsien and Tsai Chin), the two began dating and eventually decided to be together, promising a non-sexual marriage. At that time, Tsai Chin was already famous and helped Edward Yang in many aspects, including financially, ultimately leading to the production of "The Terrorizers" (1986) and "A Confucian Confusion" (1994). However, around the time of filming "A Confucian Confusion," he met his later wife, Peng Kai-li, and he moved on from his relationship with Tsai Chin. In 1995, he married Peng Kai-li, and the following year they had a child. He publicly stated that his days with Peng Kai-li were the happiest of his life, which suddenly made Tsai Chin feel that life was meaningless, much like Yang Yang's mother in "Yi Yi." Since we cannot view everything from a divine perspective, it is also difficult to evaluate the rightness or wrongness of Edward Yang and Tsai Chin's ten-year non-sexual marriage. However, from a traditional viewpoint, this may be a shadow in Edward Yang's life, and it is precisely this shadow that highlights his brilliance, showcasing a record-keeper and thinker of an ordinary yet great era.