A Brighter Summer Day (30th Anniversary) | Movie Review | Edward Yang 1991

A Patron request from the one and only Perry Perez in celebration of its 30th Anniversary.
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Edited & Produced by myself

[@jesusperez7108]

This film really took a toll on you. I can tell. A Brighter Summer Day changed my life, and I actually feel like I grew up a little as a person just by watching this film. It's undoubtedly a masterpiece, and one of the best films ever made.

[@metaphysicalmysteryreflected]

Edward Yang's 1986 "Terrorizers"...it will improve your appreciation towards Yang's range as a filmmaker with a flare for puzzles and character interaction and the nuance of connections a city brings to the three main players...highly recommend. And if your into Michelangelo Antonioni, you'll catch the reference with one of the characters.

[@aminXlocale]

Bro... You watched a lot of this movies...but you ain't seen Edward Yang damn... Yi Yi and A brighter Summers Day are truly masterpieces... Let me just tell you life... Is complex and so many subtleties and he managed to get each and ever second nook and cranny of detail into frame by frame. The man was a legendary philosopher full stop.

[@jnagarya519]

This was Chang Chen's first film -- he was later the bandit in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," and is excellent (with Shu Qi) in "Three Times". He also appears very briefly in "2046," and in "Grandmaster".

[@BigE8718]

I’ve been waiting for this review!! I knew you would love it. This film never gets old. It’s THE greatest in the criterion collection in my honest opinion.

[@lizardjesus]

Lead actor Cheng Chang confirmed the trivia bit about dubbing over Ming to be true.

[@samcohen99]

I saw this film like 5 years ago and I'm definitely gonna watch it again soon. 🥸👌🔥

[@AnInternetUser1]

Man, this is a great film. Great cast and a lot of fantastic moments throughout.

[@Paynraven]

Yes, so glad you loved it. I think the next yang film you see is the terrorizers.

[@MagnitudeReviews]

Not going to lie. I’m kinda surprised that when you were discussing the “off-center framing/not symmetrical framing”, by the proper framing technic that the film employs throughout the entire film. “The Rule of 3rds”. That is the framing technique that Edward Yang uses masterfully across the entire film.

[@jnagarya519]

That or similar is often used by Christopher Doyle in Wong Kaw Wai film -- see especially "In the Mood for Love" and "2046". Yasujiro Uzo may also use it, though his style is otherwise distinctive. Another film that has masterful cinematography -- composition -- is "The Road Home," by Zhang Yimou (Zhang Ziyi's first film).

[@w.iraheta3769]

Definitely check out the "Terrorizers” and "Taipei Story”. “A Brighter Summer Day” is one of my personal top 10 favorite films. The print I saw had very bad picture quality with in-printed subtitles. But the magic and impact it had on me was very profound. I recently picked up a copy myself on Blu-ray which was very long overdue for an upgrade and can’t wait to rewatch it. Glad you enjoyed it.

[@GutsTheGhost]

Redemption for Yi Yi lets go lmao!!

[@MagnitudeReviews]

I also struggled following the characters in the film. A lot of the characters in the film are the same age, height, wearing the same clothing and haircut. With the main difference between them is only their personality. So yeah. The film is quite hard to follow at times because it’s easy to forget who’s who. Almost like I would need a cheat sheet with pictures to make it easier for me to track what’s going on in the film.

[@joshsawyerstreamvods]

looks interesting thanks!

[@MrDancerAndMagicMask]

Not trying to tell you how you think, but maybe one of the reasons YiYi and the first hour of Brighter Summer's Day seems unengaging and lack of personality to you is because both YiYi and the first hour show a very nice representation of large families in Taiwan (And hyper extended to China) and the sort of "saving face" politics that is so intrinsic. Both large family portrayals have a lot of happiness to them, but there's also something a little sad/forced about them.

[@chrisbrandt6245]

Here it is, my unpopular opinion lol. I love and appreciate every aspect of Asian Cinema and watched hundreds of Asian films. My latest watches are High and Low, Welcome to Dongmakgol and Peppermint Candy ( each film comes from a different genre and each film is great in its own way ). I saw A Brighter Summer Day a few weeks ago and I really couldn’t get into this film. The first half, at least to me, is not engaging at all. And I love slow films like Kwaidan and Secret Sunshine. The second half was far superior no doubt, but again, you have to sit through two hours of the first half of the film to get invested and that’s not the way a film should work. Maybe I‘ll give it another try someday. But I‘m more than happy for each Asian Film review, so keep em coming👍🏻

[@andrearroyo1648]

Bought this on criterion several years ago and haven’t seen it yet. This review will make me check this out sometime soon.

[@jnagarya519]

Socioculturally, Taiwan has a love-hate relationship with mainland China. Founded by Chiang Kai-Chek, who lost the revolution to his rival Mao, always mantained the fantasy that they would someday return to mainland China in victory. Chiang Kai-Chek was a gangster who established a military dictatorship on Taiwan,, and had the support of the United States from the 1940s until his death. All of that resulted in a constant turbulence, a constant instability, in Taiwanese society.

[@Cyan_Nightingale]

Same as Mao Zedong.. if Shi Er and his family lived in mainland China.. he could be one among the millions died died during Mao Zedong's Great Leap Ahead and mass hunger.

[@jnagarya519]

@@Cyan_Nightingale We love to condemn our enemies, but never a word about Chiang Kai-Chek, murderous gangster and US ally.

[@Cyan_Nightingale]

@@jnagarya519 Same as Mao Zedong.. a murderous gangster. Both of them are gangsters, dear Indian. But at least Nationalist China is more democratic than the CCP.

[@Cyan_Nightingale]

@@jnagarya519 Kinda ironic that it was Mao Zedong who annexed Indian territory in 1962 and invaded Tibet years prior, which made Dalai Lama fled to India

[@Cyan_Nightingale]

@@jnagarya519 Has P.R.China ever made a film which criticizes its own society? Like Edward Yang and the democratic Republic of China? ... Nope. P.R.China even being denial about "Tong Chup incident" during invasion to Vietnam in 1979.