A Brighter Summer Day (1991)

Film: A Brighter Summer Day

Director: Edward Yang

Country: Taiwan

Released: July 1991

Runtime: 237 minutes

Genre: Historical Drama

Studio: Zhang Kui-ying Film Company

Influenced: Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Tsai Ming-Liang, Wong Kar-Wai, Ang Lee, Sylvia Chang

Is there a better film than this about adolescence? Taiwanese director Edward Yang and his producer wife, Yang Yun-ho, who together ran Zhang Kui-ying Film Company, the production company responsible for A Brighter Summer Day, were the brains behind this epic Shakespearean love story and coming-of-age tale. The film's conception began in the late 1980s, when Yang was inspired by the American independent film movement. He wanted to create a home-grown movie that would explore the lives of ordinary people in Taiwan, and to do so in a way that was both realistic and poetic. The film is loosely based on a real-life incident that occurred in Taipei in 1961 when a young boy murdered his girlfriend. Yang was inspired by this incident, but the film is not a direct retelling of the event. Instead, it uses this incident as a starting point to delve into the complexities of youth culture, family dynamics and society in 1960s Taiwan.

The film is set in Taipei in the early 1960s and follows the lives of several young people as they navigate the challenges of young adulthood. The film is structured episodically and each episode focuses on a different character or group of characters. Languid would be an understatement to describe this film, but Yang masterfully progresses the narrative, primarily focusing on the character of teenage boy Xiao Si'r (Chen Chang), a bright student from a lower-middle-class family who becomes involved with a street gang known as the Little Park Boys. When I first watched the film about 15 years ago, I have to confess I feel asleep about an hour or so in and then woke up near the end. I've watched it twice since (without falling asleep!) and my love and appreciation for the film has grown each time. Si'r falls in love with a girl named Ming (played by Lisa Yang), which leads to jealousy and conflict within the gang. The film explores the tension between traditional Confucian values and the influence of Western pop culture on Taiwanese youth during that era.

We hear the “brighter summer day” lyric from Elvis Presley’s Are You Lonesome Tonight? stuck on repeat on the record player just before S'ir's Dad is taken away by the secret police on suspicion of being in contact with the Communists in mainland China. The music of Elvis and the influence of rock & roll on the youth of Taiwan in the early 60s is evident in various scenes, especially those involving Cat, a charismatic gang member whose passion for rock & roll and ability to learn and mimic the lyrics of American songs makes for some of the most entertaining moments in the film. We also see the influence of American sports (the boys love their baseball bats) and cinema – next door to the "night school" that the boys attend is a film studio shooting a costume drama, whose director offers Ming a screen test. Yang's use of long takes and careful framing adds to the film's immersive quality, and his meticulous attention to detail and character development makes the viewer deeply empathise with the characters' struggles.

A Brighter Summer Day uses a mix of Mandarin and Taiwanese dialects to reflect the linguistic diversity of Taiwan at the time. Though it's not an explicitly political film, it's impossible to appreciate the film fully without an understanding of the political backdrop. After the Chinese Civil War (1945-1949), the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or KMT), led by Chiang Kai-shek, retreated to Taiwan, establishing the Republic of China (ROC) there. The film takes place during a period when Taiwan was still under KMT rule. An interesting subplot is the strong Christian faith of Si’r’s sister, a religious practice that the Communists outlawed. While the film received critical plaudits at the time of its release – notably the FIPRESCI Prize at the Berlin Film Festival in 1992 and various awards at the 1991 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival – its reputation has grown considerably since and A Brighter Summer Day is now widely regarded as a masterpiece of world cinema.