Rating: 5/5
Criterion Challenge 2022 | 44/52 | Paul Dano’s Closet Picks
Are you lonesome tonight? Do you miss me tonight? Are you sorry we drifted apart? Does your memory stray to a brighter summer day when I kissed you and called you sweetheart? — Elvis Presley, "Are You Lonesome Tonight?"
Summer of the 48th year of the Republic of China (ROC) (1959) Xiao Si’r’s father speaks to the principal regarding his son’s failing test score, believing it to be a mistake. The school promises to revisit the score but assures him that Jianguo High’s night school program isn’t bad. His father, however, knows the school’s reputation and worries that any prolonged time there will turn Si’r “bad.” The radio lists students qualified to attend National Chengchi University at breakfast the following morning.
Ninth month of the 49th year of the ROC (September 1960) Si’r’s become a real troublemaker. He and his best friend, Cat, sneak off to the film set next door, watching from the rafters. When they spot an actress changing clothes, Cat drops his book, and the two run for it, but not before stealing a flashlight. After night school, Si’r tags along with the Little Park Boys, a local gang that Cat is in, but not him. Members of the 217s cornered Sly, the Little Park Boys’ interim leader, at the grade school. Si’r wanders around the school and sees a girl run out of one of the classrooms, although Sly claims to be alone.
Things grow tense for Si’r as Sly hears Si’r spread rumors about the girl he saw. At home, he grows ever distant from his family as gang affairs take over. Meanwhile, his family deals with social pressures to assimilate and settle down, not unlike the gang mentality that has affected the children—tempting because doing so may provide the family the connections they need to get Si’r back in day school. As they ride home on the bus, tanks pass them by. After Ming experiences an injury at school and Si’r receives a vaccination, the nurse tasks Si’r with walking Ming to class, and the two become friends.
The film follows Si’r as gang violence increases and his family experiences difficulties that shake their foundations.
You're so honorable. It'll get you into trouble.
The film’s Mandarin title and English title reveal the two facets of the movie. The Mandarin title, which translates to “Youth Homicide Incident On Guiling Street,” describes a moment in the film. The event comes from Yang’s childhood—the movie builds around it but is not “about” it. The English title gives way to the more transcendental themes of the film. This title comes from the Elvis Presley rendition of “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” which Si’r’s sister helps translate for Cat, a huge Elvis Presley fan. The title reflects the loneliness and longing of childhood, when one can’t wait for the freedom of adulthood, but also of Taiwan post-civil war, when their connection to China was severed and remains so.
Do you know how lonely life can be? You know what it feels like in the depths of despair?
Music plays a key role in the movie. We hear characters singing and listening to music. Cat performs with a band at the diner. We hear some songs repeated but in entirely different contexts, drawing out nuances in the song while also reflecting the universality of music. It doesn’t matter which gang you’re a part of, how old you are, or where you are—a song can touch you.
Like Yang’s other movies, the shots are often beautiful, static compositions that let the story unfold in long takes or simple cuts. The film uses juxtaposition in powerful ways, building space and allowing us into the characters’ heads. Specific settings have repeated compositions to reinforce their familiarity with the routine. This approach is perfect for the astute attention to period costumes, settings, and landmarks.
The film studio is a recurring setting, reflecting Taiwan’s then-budding film industry and Yang’s love of movies from a young age. It also suggests how movies play into the kids’ notions of being an adult—westerns and gangster flicks. Not that movies are the only ones to blame—the father’s anger becomes the son’s anger.
The film offers a rich portrait of Taiwan in the 1960s. Si’r’s family came to Taiwan from Shanghai at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. His family and those like it lived tenuous lives, unsure of their future. Without a strong sense of cultural identity or security, the children formed street gangs so they would feel like they belonged to something. They could join the military, but they see that as an inevitable death—something also likely in their gang relationships, which they either ignore or repress.
S’ir’s father came from the country. It wasn’t until he moved to Shanghai and met Wang that he learned the ways of the world. Si’r has a similar naivete and can stand up for what he believes is right. But the world punishes both of them for refusing to assimilate in the ways that others around them do. At school, a kid cheats off of Si’r’s paper. Si’r refuses to help him, and the school punishes both. When Si’r tries to speak up for himself, the school punishes him further. When Si’r’s father comes to Si’r’s defense, the school gives every excuse why Si’r deserves the treatment he receives.
— A person who will apologize for wrongs he didn't commit is capable of all sorts of terrible things. — But that kind of thing seems to happen so often. — Exactly. The purpose of education is to search for the truth of life to believe in. If you can't be brave enough to believe in it, then what's the purpose of life? […] You must believe your future is determined by your own hard work.
Their relationship feels so rich, in part, because Chang Kuo-Chu, who plays the father, is Chang Chen’s real-life father. Chang Kuo-Chu introduced Chen to Edward Yang, and Chen got the part.
The film explores Taiwan’s relationship with the USA through Wang, a colleague of Si’r’s father, who regularly travels to the USA and espouses their politics. He jokes that if he could develop an atomic bomb, he’d use it to take out the Chinese Communists. I don’t want to give away how that relationship plays out, but that direction and Wang’s relationship with the USA are connected. Though one could make artificial comparisons between Taiwan and the USA regarding its colonist history, their current geopolitical status, and worldwide diaspora tell a more complicated story. That said, director Edward Yang explored the influence of the USA on Taiwan in many of his movies. Taipei Story is the most overt (that I’ve seen) in its exploration of cultural osmosis and identity loss in the face of modernity and globalization.
The film has a deliberate pace, letting the story and characters unfold organically. This choice makes summarizing the film challenging, as a four-hour movie cannot be about just one thing. But it never feels like the movie is spinning its wheels or experimenting to the detriment of the audience’s experience. It allows us plenty of room to contemplate the meaning of each scene—especially helpful when characters and relationships remain unexplained.
I loved the relationships, the writing, everything. Yang drew on his childhood for so many details—the film almost overflows with them in each scene, never asserting them. So many moments had me in tears, positive and negative. Yes, it will require patience to finish, but the experience is one of the most rewarding I’ve had while watching a movie.
We have all the time in the world.