Post by klep on Feb 15, 2021 9:28:00 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 2/15: Yi Yi
HEY BIPOC WEEK!
CW: Suicide
Yi Yi is a film about reflection and perspective. It finds most of its characters at crossroads in their lives - either before or after a road not taken (or both). As a consequence, it often finds itself in a melancholy or even sad mode; with various members of the family sitting with their regrets about the way things have gone in their pasts. But it's also a beautiful and sometimes even funny film. Life doesn't ever have just one emotion - even if one may be predominant for a time; there's always room for laughter and sadness in the same day, sometimes even in the same sentence.
Yi Yi opens at a wedding; a joyous occasion. People are taking photos, smiling, celebrating this new union and the joining of two families. But at the reception a woman shows up and makes a scene. She is Yunyun (Hsin-Yi Tseng), and the groom A-Di (Hsi-Sheng Chen) is her ex. It seems he cheated on her with Xiao-Yan (Shu-shen Hsiao) and got her pregnant, leading to a shotgun wedding. It's an event that upsets A-Di's mother (Ru-Yun Tang), so her granddaughter Ting-Ting (Kelly Lee) and son-in-law N.J. (Nien-Jen Wu) take her home. They get her settled in, Ting-Ting takes out the trash, and they head back to the reception which in the nature of such affairs is long, tiring, drunken, and joyous. When they return home, they learn Grandma has been taken to the hospital after a stroke.
The wedding and Grandma's stroke make the day a seismic event for the family. Her daughter Min-Min (Elaine Jin) and N.J. are charged with her care while she's in a coma in their home. A-Di's marriage is threatening to give the chronically indebted man financial stability, and new neighbors both give Ting-Ting a friend and create a source of next door drama. Ting-Ting both enjoys her new friendship and blames herself for Grandma's condition; she fears Grandma was taking out garbage Ting-Ting forgot when she had her stroke. Meanwhile her mother Min-Min realizes through talking to Grandma that she is saying the same things every day; her life never changes. For his part, NJ is dealing with conflicts with his business partners and the re-entrance of an old flame into his life.
All of these people are looking back at some point in the past and on some level regretting decisions they made. Min-Min's realization causes her to flee the family for a Buddhist retreat. N.J. ends up with a chance to reconnect with his first love Sherry (Su-Yun Ko) and consider starting over with her. A-Di's flakiness leads him back to Yun-Yun and ultimately to despair and a suicide attempt. Director Edward Yang does a great job of relating everyone's struggles back to each other by crosscutting between their stories, in particular a beautiful sequence where N.J. and Sherry reminisce about their first date while Ting-Ting goes on a first date of her own.
In the end, everyone returns to where they're "supposed" to be. A-Di sorts out his finances and recommits to his wife and child. N.J. returns home and decides to pursue more fulfilling work, Min-Min rejoins him and they start to bridge the gap between them, and Ting-Ting believes she has gotten Grandma's forgiveness - dreaming of her right as she passed.
The only major character I haven't discussed is N.J.'s young son Yang-Yang (Jonathan Chang), because he is too young to have these kinds of regrets. He's dealing with normal childhood troubles like bullies, a harsh teacher, and an awakening awareness of girls. And he has a kind heart and a profound perspective on life, grasping that at least in a very literal sense no two people can see the world the same way (he adorably takes photos of the backs of people's heads so they can see what they look like). As the family gathers at Grandma's funeral he finally reads a speech to her as she lies in state, explaining that as every time she talked to him she told him something he didn't know, he didn't feel he could do the same for her while she was in a coma.
As he expresses his earnest, child's desire to share his own knowledge with others when he grows up, it gives a beautiful impression of life going on. Do not fear the next day, and do not dwell too much on the past. There will be sadness, but there will be happiness too. Life continues as it must, and if all it gives you is lessons to share with others, that can be enough.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 2/22: Widows
BLACK FILM WEEK!
For Black Film Week this time we'll be watching Steve McQueen's overlooked 2018 heist thriller Widows, starring Viola Davis, Elizabeth Debicki, and Michelle Rodriguez as women left in debt to some mobsters after their husbands die during a heist. Be sure to join us next week for this film which touches on class and race in Chicago. Widows is available for rent in the usual places.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 2/16: Lost in America
The Next Picture Show podcast hits the road next week for a pairing Nomadland, starting with Albert Brooks' Lost in America. Join us Wednesday for our discussion of Lost in America, available for rent in the usual places.
HEY BIPOC WEEK!
CW: Suicide
Yi Yi is a film about reflection and perspective. It finds most of its characters at crossroads in their lives - either before or after a road not taken (or both). As a consequence, it often finds itself in a melancholy or even sad mode; with various members of the family sitting with their regrets about the way things have gone in their pasts. But it's also a beautiful and sometimes even funny film. Life doesn't ever have just one emotion - even if one may be predominant for a time; there's always room for laughter and sadness in the same day, sometimes even in the same sentence.
Yi Yi opens at a wedding; a joyous occasion. People are taking photos, smiling, celebrating this new union and the joining of two families. But at the reception a woman shows up and makes a scene. She is Yunyun (Hsin-Yi Tseng), and the groom A-Di (Hsi-Sheng Chen) is her ex. It seems he cheated on her with Xiao-Yan (Shu-shen Hsiao) and got her pregnant, leading to a shotgun wedding. It's an event that upsets A-Di's mother (Ru-Yun Tang), so her granddaughter Ting-Ting (Kelly Lee) and son-in-law N.J. (Nien-Jen Wu) take her home. They get her settled in, Ting-Ting takes out the trash, and they head back to the reception which in the nature of such affairs is long, tiring, drunken, and joyous. When they return home, they learn Grandma has been taken to the hospital after a stroke.
The wedding and Grandma's stroke make the day a seismic event for the family. Her daughter Min-Min (Elaine Jin) and N.J. are charged with her care while she's in a coma in their home. A-Di's marriage is threatening to give the chronically indebted man financial stability, and new neighbors both give Ting-Ting a friend and create a source of next door drama. Ting-Ting both enjoys her new friendship and blames herself for Grandma's condition; she fears Grandma was taking out garbage Ting-Ting forgot when she had her stroke. Meanwhile her mother Min-Min realizes through talking to Grandma that she is saying the same things every day; her life never changes. For his part, NJ is dealing with conflicts with his business partners and the re-entrance of an old flame into his life.
All of these people are looking back at some point in the past and on some level regretting decisions they made. Min-Min's realization causes her to flee the family for a Buddhist retreat. N.J. ends up with a chance to reconnect with his first love Sherry (Su-Yun Ko) and consider starting over with her. A-Di's flakiness leads him back to Yun-Yun and ultimately to despair and a suicide attempt. Director Edward Yang does a great job of relating everyone's struggles back to each other by crosscutting between their stories, in particular a beautiful sequence where N.J. and Sherry reminisce about their first date while Ting-Ting goes on a first date of her own.
In the end, everyone returns to where they're "supposed" to be. A-Di sorts out his finances and recommits to his wife and child. N.J. returns home and decides to pursue more fulfilling work, Min-Min rejoins him and they start to bridge the gap between them, and Ting-Ting believes she has gotten Grandma's forgiveness - dreaming of her right as she passed.
The only major character I haven't discussed is N.J.'s young son Yang-Yang (Jonathan Chang), because he is too young to have these kinds of regrets. He's dealing with normal childhood troubles like bullies, a harsh teacher, and an awakening awareness of girls. And he has a kind heart and a profound perspective on life, grasping that at least in a very literal sense no two people can see the world the same way (he adorably takes photos of the backs of people's heads so they can see what they look like). As the family gathers at Grandma's funeral he finally reads a speech to her as she lies in state, explaining that as every time she talked to him she told him something he didn't know, he didn't feel he could do the same for her while she was in a coma.
As he expresses his earnest, child's desire to share his own knowledge with others when he grows up, it gives a beautiful impression of life going on. Do not fear the next day, and do not dwell too much on the past. There will be sadness, but there will be happiness too. Life continues as it must, and if all it gives you is lessons to share with others, that can be enough.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 2/22: Widows
BLACK FILM WEEK!
For Black Film Week this time we'll be watching Steve McQueen's overlooked 2018 heist thriller Widows, starring Viola Davis, Elizabeth Debicki, and Michelle Rodriguez as women left in debt to some mobsters after their husbands die during a heist. Be sure to join us next week for this film which touches on class and race in Chicago. Widows is available for rent in the usual places.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 2/16: Lost in America
The Next Picture Show podcast hits the road next week for a pairing Nomadland, starting with Albert Brooks' Lost in America. Join us Wednesday for our discussion of Lost in America, available for rent in the usual places.