QINGMEI ZHUMA
TAIPEI STORY
In memoriam of Edward Yang (1947-2007)
A turning point in the history of Taiwanese cinema, Edward Yang's masterpiece suggests a rough parallel with Abbas Kiarostami's Close Up in relation to Iranian cinema by virtue of featuring the other key Taiwanese filmmaker, Hou Hsiao-hsien, in a leading role, much as Mohsen Makhmalbaf is featured in Kiarostami's film. Hou, who also collaborated on the script, plays an alienated businessman working for a textile manufacturer who was an ace baseball player in his youth; when his girlfriend loses her job at a computer firm, their relationship begins to crumble. But this couple's malaise is only part of a multifaceted sense of confusion and despair that affects three generations of Taipei residents during a period of economic boom, and Yang's mastery in weaving together all his characters and subplots against a glittering urban landscape anticipates the major themes of his subsequent works. (Jonathan Rosenbaum)
Copy from the collection of the Chinese Taipei Film Archive
- Wu Nien-jen - NJ Jian
- Hou Hsiao-hsien
- Cai Qin
- Yang Liyin
- Sun Peng
- Lin Xiuling
- Lai Denan
- Ko I-cheng
- Ke Suyun
- Chen Shufang
- Hou Hsiao-hsien
- Edward Yang
- Zhu Tianwen
- Yang Weihan
- Du Duzhi
- Wang Qi Yang
- Song Fanchen
- Edward Yang
3 H Production 2f, No. 5, Lane 23, Wan-Ning Street 116 Taipei, Taiwan T 62 239 58 22 hhhfilms@ms12.hinet.net
