# Yi yi (2000)

### reviewed by
Steve Rhodes

    YI YI
    A film review by Steve Rhodes
    Copyright 2001 Steve Rhodes
    RATING (0 TO ****):  ** 1/2

YI YI, by Taiwanese writer and director Edward Yang, would be translated ONE ONE in English. The American distributors have chosen instead the less literal English title of A ONE AND A TWO, probably because the movie is about the rhythms of life. Although voted best picture of the year by one association of film critics, it is hardly that. While certainly not a bad picture, it is a long, meandering one that is rarely compelling. Still, with its artistic filming -- most conversations are intriguingly shot from a medium or long distance -- it is easy to see how critics might fall in love with it.

The relatively formless, slice-of-life plot follows a large number of characters. While the performances are all genuine, the script has trouble eliciting either tears or laughs from the audience. Even though the story isn't all it could be, Wei-han Yang's cinematography is exemplary from start to finish. Most fascinating are the scenes shot through the glass of moving cars. As we watch the reflected skyscrapers pass by, we listen to the conversation going on inside the cars.

The central character of the grandmother (Tang Ruyun) appears mainly comatose. After falling tragically ill, she becomes a vegetable confessor for her family. Throughout the story, people come to her to bare their souls, not knowing if she can hear them or not. Her daughter, Min-Min (Elaine Jin), tells her with despair, "I live a blank." Her son-in-law, NJ (Nien-Jen Wu), whose company is failing, tells her, "Frankly, there's very little I'm sure about these days."

8-year-old Yang-Yang (Jonathan Chang) is the film's most indelible character. Having one of the wisest conversations that you've ever heard from a child of his age, he points out to his father that they can never really quite understand each other since they see different things. Yang-Yang also argues that people can only see half of the truth since they can see in front of them but not behind.

Least successful and more traditional are the canonically comical scenes like the one of kids dropping a water balloon on an unsuspecting passerby. Other failed attempts at humor include Yang-Yang being falsely accused by his teacher of having a condom in his pocket -- it's actually a balloon -- and a noisy couple in the throws of passion heard through thin apartment walls.

Although it has its moments, YI YI is the type of movie that, if rented on tape, would be one that you would likely turn off after half an hour out of sheer lack of interest. On the other hand, with an hour chopped off of its three bloated hours, who knows what might have been? The potential is there.

YI YI runs a very long 2:53. The film is mainly in Mandarin with English subtitles. It is not rated but would be an R for language and brief nudity and would be acceptable for teenagers.

The film is playing in limited release now in the United States. In the Silicon Valley it is currently showing at the Towne Theatre in San Jose.

Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com

The review above was posted to the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due to ASCII to HTML conversion.

Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews