Yi Yi: A One and a Two
Encyclopedia
Yi Yi: A One and a Two is a Taiwanese film written and directed by Edward Yang
, about the emotional struggles of a businessman and the lives of his middle-class Taiwanese family in Taipei
seen through three generations. The English title refers to how two Chinese characters for "one" (一) written in vertical alignment can be viewed as meaning "A One" or as a single character meaning "Two" (二).
The film won Yang the Best Director Award
at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival
, where it also debuted.
Jian family seen through three different perspectives: the middle-aged father NJ (Nien-Jen Wu
), the young son Yang-Yang (Jonathan Chang), and the teenage daughter, Ting-Ting (Kelly Lee). The three-hour piece starts with a wedding, concludes with a funeral, and contemplates areas of human life in between. The father, NJ, is unsatisfied with his work and the desire of his business partners to enter into a deal with a well-known Japan
ese videogame company. While his partners are only concerned about making money, NJ finds that his honest nature is unappreciated in the commercial realm. To his surprise, he finds a connection with the Japanese software mogul, Ota. A former old flame, Sherry, tries to walk into his life after a chance reunion. His youngest son has troubles at school with his teachers, while his daughter has to handle a love triangle
involving her friend next door and her troubled boyfriend. All three try to deal with their problems while also caring for NJ's aged mother-in-law, who is in a coma
, and in the absence of NJ's wife, who has left for a Buddhist
retreat after facing a midlife crisis
. In addition, A-Di, NJ's overweight brother-in-law who marries a starlet at the start of the film, has to wrestle with his demanding wife and a former love, complicating matters within this extended family.
The other Taiwanese cast members include Elaine Jin
as NJ's wife, Min-Min, Su-Yun Ko as NJ's former love Sherry, Hsi-Sheng Chen as A-Di, and Pang Chang Yu as Fatty. The film also stars Japanese comedian Issei Ogata
as a Japanese software mogul, Ota.
, Yi Yi has collected a host of awards from prestigious international film festivals. Yi Yi garnered its director, Edward Yang
the Best Director
at Cannes in 2000 and was nominated for the Palme d'Or in the same year. Yi Yi won the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival's Netpac Award, the Vancouver International Film Festival
's Chief Dan George Humanitarian Award and tied with Topsy-Turvy
to win the 2000 Sarajevo Film Festival's Panorama Jury Award. The film also won Best Foreign Film from the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics
in 2001, the Grand Prix at the Fribourg International Film Festival
in Switzerland in 2001, The Best Foreign Film from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Awards in 2000, Best Film from the National Society of Film Critics
in 2001, and Best Foreign Language Film from the New York Film Critics Circle Awards in 2000. It was also named one of the best movies of 2001 by many prominent publications and intellectuals, including the New York Times, Newsweek
, USA Today
the Village Voice, Film Comment
, the Chicago Reader, and the author Susan Sontag
, among others.
In 2002, the film was selected by the British film magazine Sight and Sound as one of the ten greatest films of the past twenty-five years, among Apocalypse Now
, Raging Bull, Fanny and Alexander
, Goodfellas
, Blue Velvet, Do the Right Thing
, Blade Runner
, Chungking Express
, Distant Voices, Still Lives
, and Once Upon a Time in America
.
It is also ranked as the 3rd most critically acclaimed film of the 21st century by website They Shoot Pictures Don't They?.
's Moonlight Sonata, Johann Sebastian Bach
's Toccata in E minor and BWV 914. Peng also has a small cameo
in the film as a concert cellist, playing the Beethoven's Cello sonata No. 1
with her husband posing as a pianist.
Edward Yang
Edward Yang , along with Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Tsai Ming Liang, was one of the leading filmmakers of the Taiwanese New Wave and Taiwanese Cinema. He won the Best Director Award at Cannes for his 2000 film Yi Yi .-Biography:...
, about the emotional struggles of a businessman and the lives of his middle-class Taiwanese family in Taipei
Taipei
Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
seen through three generations. The English title refers to how two Chinese characters for "one" (一) written in vertical alignment can be viewed as meaning "A One" or as a single character meaning "Two" (二).
The film won Yang the Best Director Award
Best Director Award (Cannes Film Festival)
The Best Director Award is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the jury from the 'official section' of movies at the festival. It was first awarded in 1946....
at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival
2000 Cannes Film Festival
The 2000 Cannes Film Festival started on May 14 and ran until May 25. The Palme d'Or went to the Danish film Dancer in the Dark by Lars von Trier.-Jury:* Luc Besson, President * Jonathan Demme * Nicole Garcia...
, where it also debuted.
Plot
Yi Yi is an epic story about the TaipeiTaipei
Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
Jian family seen through three different perspectives: the middle-aged father NJ (Nien-Jen Wu
Nien-Jen Wu
Wu Nien-jen , Taiwan) is a famous scriptwriter, director, and author from Taiwan. He is one of the most prolific and highly regarded scriptwriters in the country and a leading member of the New Taiwanese Cinema, although he also acted in a number of films. He starred in Edward Yang's 2000 film Yi...
), the young son Yang-Yang (Jonathan Chang), and the teenage daughter, Ting-Ting (Kelly Lee). The three-hour piece starts with a wedding, concludes with a funeral, and contemplates areas of human life in between. The father, NJ, is unsatisfied with his work and the desire of his business partners to enter into a deal with a well-known Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese videogame company. While his partners are only concerned about making money, NJ finds that his honest nature is unappreciated in the commercial realm. To his surprise, he finds a connection with the Japanese software mogul, Ota. A former old flame, Sherry, tries to walk into his life after a chance reunion. His youngest son has troubles at school with his teachers, while his daughter has to handle a love triangle
Love triangle
A love triangle is usually a romantic relationship involving three people. While it can refer to two people independently romantically linked with a third, it usually implies that each of the three people has some kind of relationship to the other two...
involving her friend next door and her troubled boyfriend. All three try to deal with their problems while also caring for NJ's aged mother-in-law, who is in a coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
, and in the absence of NJ's wife, who has left for a Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
retreat after facing a midlife crisis
Midlife Crisis
"Midlife Crisis" is a song by the American rock band Faith No More. It was released on May 26, 1992 as the first single from their fourth album, Angel Dust...
. In addition, A-Di, NJ's overweight brother-in-law who marries a starlet at the start of the film, has to wrestle with his demanding wife and a former love, complicating matters within this extended family.
The other Taiwanese cast members include Elaine Jin
Elaine Jin
Elaine Jin or known as Yanling Jin, Elaine Kam is a famous Taiwanese actress.She has been nominated five times in the Hong Kong Film Awards and won two for her supporting roles in Love Unto Waste and People's Hero...
as NJ's wife, Min-Min, Su-Yun Ko as NJ's former love Sherry, Hsi-Sheng Chen as A-Di, and Pang Chang Yu as Fatty. The film also stars Japanese comedian Issei Ogata
Issei Ogata
, is a Japanese actor and comedian. He was interested in plays since childhood. After he graduated from Toyotama High School in Japan, he joined a theatrical company and appeared on the stage. Later, he jumped at the opportunity to be an entertainer when he took the gold medal at the audition...
as a Japanese software mogul, Ota.
Production and casting
Yi Yis principal shooting began on April 8, 1999 and lasted until August 21, 1999. Prior to this, Yang's script had required the children to be aged ten and fifteen, but Yang later found Jonathan Chang and Kelly Lee, both whom had never acted before. When shooting began, they were eight and thirteen respectively. Yang made amendments to the script accordingly.Awards and accolades
Following its debut at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival2000 Cannes Film Festival
The 2000 Cannes Film Festival started on May 14 and ran until May 25. The Palme d'Or went to the Danish film Dancer in the Dark by Lars von Trier.-Jury:* Luc Besson, President * Jonathan Demme * Nicole Garcia...
, Yi Yi has collected a host of awards from prestigious international film festivals. Yi Yi garnered its director, Edward Yang
Edward Yang
Edward Yang , along with Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Tsai Ming Liang, was one of the leading filmmakers of the Taiwanese New Wave and Taiwanese Cinema. He won the Best Director Award at Cannes for his 2000 film Yi Yi .-Biography:...
the Best Director
Best Director Award (Cannes Film Festival)
The Best Director Award is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the jury from the 'official section' of movies at the festival. It was first awarded in 1946....
at Cannes in 2000 and was nominated for the Palme d'Or in the same year. Yi Yi won the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival's Netpac Award, the Vancouver International Film Festival
Vancouver International Film Festival
The Vancouver International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for two weeks in late September and early October...
's Chief Dan George Humanitarian Award and tied with Topsy-Turvy
Topsy-Turvy
Topsy-Turvy is a 1999 musical drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh and stars Allan Corduner as Arthur Sullivan and Jim Broadbent as W. S. Gilbert, along with Timothy Spall and Lesley Manville. The story concerns the 15-month period in 1884 and 1885 leading up to the premiere of Gilbert...
to win the 2000 Sarajevo Film Festival's Panorama Jury Award. The film also won Best Foreign Film from the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics
French Syndicate of Cinema Critics
The French Syndicate of Cinema Critics has awarded 4 prizes - the Prix Méliès annually since 1946 to the best French film of the year. The Prix Léon Moussinac, awarded to the Best Foreign Film category was added in 1967...
in 2001, the Grand Prix at the Fribourg International Film Festival
Fribourg International Film Festival
The Fribourg International Film Festival is an annual film festival in Fribourg, Switzerland. It is focused on selected cultural films from Asia, Africa and Latin America....
in Switzerland in 2001, The Best Foreign Film from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Los Angeles Film Critics Association
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association was founded in 1975. Its main purpose is to present yearly awards to members of the film industry who have excelled in their fields. These awards are presented each January...
Awards in 2000, Best Film from the National Society of Film Critics
National Society of Film Critics
The National Society of Film Critics is an American film critic organization. As of December 2007 the NSFC had approximately 60 members who wrote for a variety of weekly and daily newspapers.-History:...
in 2001, and Best Foreign Language Film from the New York Film Critics Circle Awards in 2000. It was also named one of the best movies of 2001 by many prominent publications and intellectuals, including the New York Times, Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
the Village Voice, Film Comment
Film Comment
Film Comment is an arts and culture magazine published by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, of which it is the official publication. Film Comment features critical reviews and in-depth analysis of mainstream, art-house, and avant-garde filmmaking from around the world...
, the Chicago Reader, and the author Susan Sontag
Susan Sontag
Susan Sontag was an American author, literary theorist, feminist and political activist whose works include On Photography and Against Interpretation.-Life:...
, among others.
In 2002, the film was selected by the British film magazine Sight and Sound as one of the ten greatest films of the past twenty-five years, among Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American war film set during the Vietnam War, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The central character is US Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard , of MACV-SOG, an assassin sent to kill the renegade and presumed insane Special Forces...
, Raging Bull, Fanny and Alexander
Fanny and Alexander
Fanny and Alexander is a 1982 Swedish fantasy drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. It was originally conceived as a four-part TV movie and cut in that version, spanning 312 minutes. A 188-minute version was created later for cinematic release, although this version was in fact the...
, Goodfellas
Goodfellas
Goodfellas is a 1990 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the 1986 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese...
, Blue Velvet, Do the Right Thing
Do the Right Thing
Do the Right Thing is a 1989 American dramedy produced, written, and directed by Spike Lee, who is also a featured actor in the film. Other members of the cast include Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, and John Turturro. It is also notably the...
, Blade Runner
Blade Runner
Blade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K...
, Chungking Express
Chungking Express
Chungking Express is a 1994 Hong Kong film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai. The film consists of two stories told in sequence, each about a lovesick Hong Kong policeman mulling over his relationship with a woman...
, Distant Voices, Still Lives
Distant Voices, Still Lives
Distant Voices, Still Lives is a 1988 British film directed and written by Terence Davies. It evokes working-class family life in Liverpool during the 1940s and early 1950s, paying particular attention to the role of popular music, Hollywood cinema, light entertainment, and the public house within...
, and Once Upon a Time in America
Once Upon a Time in America
Once Upon a Time in America is a 1984 Italian epic crime film co-written and directed by Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. The story chronicles the lives of Jewish ghetto youths who rise to prominence in New York City's world of organized crime...
.
It is also ranked as the 3rd most critically acclaimed film of the 21st century by website They Shoot Pictures Don't They?.
Soundtrack
The piano pieces in Yi Yis soundtrack are mostly performed by Kaili Peng, Yang's wife. They include well-known pieces like BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's Moonlight Sonata, Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's Toccata in E minor and BWV 914. Peng also has a small cameo
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
in the film as a concert cellist, playing the Beethoven's Cello sonata No. 1
Cello Sonatas No. 1 and No. 2, Opus 5 (Beethoven)
Cello Sonatas No. 1 and No. 2 were written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1796, while he was in Berlin. While there, Beethoven met the King of Prussia Friedrich Wilhelm II, an ardent music-lover and keen cellist...
with her husband posing as a pianist.