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Edward Yang |
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Director / Screenwriter |
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1947 - 2007 |
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Born November
6, Shanghai, China |
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Key
Production Countries:
Taiwan |
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Key Genres: Drama,
Family Drama, Psychological Drama |
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Key
Collaborators: Elaine Jin (Leading Player), Bo-Wen Chen (Editor), Nien-Jen Wu (Leading Character Player), Wei-yen Yu (Producer), Chen Chang (Leading Character Player), Shiang-chyi Chen (Leading Character Player), Yiwen Chen (Leading Character Player), Wei-han Yang (Cinematographer), Longyu Li (Cinematographer), Bosen Wang (Character Player) |
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Highly Recommended:
A Brighter Summer Day (1991)* |
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Recommended: Taipei Story (1985), Yi yi (2000)*^ |
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Worth a Look:
The Terrorizers (1986), A
Confucian Confusion (1994), Mahjong (1996) |
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* Listed in TSPDT's
1,000 Greatest Films
section; ^
Listed in TSPDT's
21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films
section. |
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Links:
[
Amazon
] [
IMDB ] [
All-Movie
Guide ] [
Senses
of Cinema: Great Directors ] [
Film Reference ]
[
Guardian
Unlimited Interview ] [
Filmbug
Bio ] [
Strictly
Film School ] [
Los Angeles Times Article (2007) ] [
The New York Times Article (2007)
] [
Village
Voice Article (2007)
] [
Boston Globe Article (2007) ] [
Globe and Mail Article (2008) ]
[
Slant Magazine Article (2011)
] |
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Books: [
Edward Yang (Contemporary Film Directors) ] |
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"Although
their films are very different, Yang's patient, discreet, rational
style was as antithetical to prevailing trends in Western cinema
as his countryman and sometime collaborator
Hou Hsiao-hsien's.
Influenced by modernist European art cinema, Yang made long films
with large casts, but eschewed the epic to concentrate on the
accretion of behavioural detail. As has been pointed out, his
material has more in common with Western soaps than with Western
movies. It is the stuff of everyday life." -
Tom Charity (The Rough Guide to Film, 2007) |
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"Largely
eschewing close-ups, Yang prefers medium and long shots (usually
from a fixed standpoint) to relate characters to one another and
to the world around them; lighting and colour evoke mood, while
decor and costume deftly delineate class, background and
aspiration... Yang's films are distinctly his own, painting in
subtle but clear lines social panoramas remarkable for their
historical precision ane emotional authenticity." -
Geoff Andrew (The Director's Vision, 1999) |
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"Leading
contributor to Taiwan new wave of the 80s... Like others in the
new wave, he pursued provocative subject matter (critiquing
Taiwan's rapid industrialization), hired non-professional actors
(an aesthetic choice, as well as a fiscal necessity) and employed
new film technology (eschewed by the domestic film studios). His
films, especially, A Brighter Summer Day (1991), have
enjoyed wide acclaim." -
(The MacMillan International Film
Encyclopedia, 1994)
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"I was the leader of the
Taiwanese new wave. All these guys would just gather in my house,
talking and laughing and drinking:
Hou Hsiao-hsien, Wu Nien-jen --
just about all of them. You could just push open the door.
Everyone just wanted to do similar things. We weren't allowed to,
and no one was willing to give us any money to, but we shared all
these idealistic thoughts." - Edward
Yang |
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"Edward Yang is in the intriguing position of being one
of the most gifted, and least seen, filmmakers in the world,
at least for American audiences. His films express the
confusion, anxiety, and sheer beauty of societal
transformation. Yang also equates the macrocosmic and
microcosmic, making the lives of his characters stand in for
the greater, less visible processes of social change. Along
with Hou
Hsiao-hsien and
Tsai Ming-liang, Yang is one
of the most visible faces of the Taiwanese New Wave,
possibly the most brilliant filmmaking movement in the world
today... A shared trait of all
Yang’s films is a complexity resistant to quick summary or
explication. Each of his films possesses a difficulty and
depth that requires multiple viewings to parse. Even
elements of plot and character development are not always
clear on first viewing."
-
Saul Austerlitz,
Senses of Cinema (2002) |
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●
Top 250 Directors |
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21st Century Top
50 |
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●
501 Movie Directors: A
Comprehensive Guide to the Greatest Filmmakers |
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See Also |
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Robert Bresson |
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Hou
Hsiao-hsien |
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Hirokazu Koreeda |
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Stanley Kwan |
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Ang Lee |
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Kenji Mizoguchi |
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Mikio Naruse |
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Yasujiro Ozu |
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Hiroshi Shimizu |
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Tian Zhuangzhuang |
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Tran Anh Hung |
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Tsai Ming-liang |
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Edward Yang's Favourites |
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8½
(1963)
Federico Fellini, Aguirre: The
Wrath of God (1972)
Werner Herzog, L'Argent (1983)
Robert Bresson,
Blue Velvet (1986)
David Lynch, A Clockwork Orange (1971)
David Lynch,
Floating Clouds (1955)
Mikio Naruse, Harakiri (1962)
Masaki
Kobayashi, Manhattan (1979)
Woody Allen, Mon oncle d'Amérique
(1980) Alain
Resnais, Nostalghia (1983)
Andrei
Tarkovsky.
Source: Sight & Sound (1992) |
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