A One And A Two (Yi Yi) review

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Deservedly, Edward Yang won the Best Director Prize at Cannes 2000 for this insightful and poignant portrait of a middle-class Taiwanese family in crisis.

A One And A Two unfolds in present-day Taipei, where problems are mounting for computer company executive NJ (Wu Nianzhen). His mother-in-law (Tang Ru-yun) is in a coma, his wife (Elaine Jin) has left him to go to a religious retreat, his firm is struggling and an old love (Ko Su-yun) has materialised after 30 years. His son (Jonathan Chang) is in trouble at school, and his daughter (Kelly Lee) is experiencing her own first love...

It's a well-acted, masterfully structured film, and Yang's compassion for his characters fills every gracefully photographed frame.

NO VERDICT

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