Mass audiences or even art-house audiences being even less conditioned now than they were in the late '60s to take the next step forward and accept completely non-dramatic personal films in the "synaesthetic" sense that Gene Youngblood described 30 years ago in the famous book "Expanded Cinema," most current 'mainstream-art-house' (whatever the hell that means, although I see absolutely no reaon why this film shouldn't be a success with mass audiences if only they had a little patience) cinema is basically doomed to forever repeat the best of its past achievements in new settings and configurations: always illuminating to be sure, especially when an accomplished artist like Yang or Tavernier or Rohmer is at the helm, but nothing new.
And, of course, there's nothing new in Yang's excellent film "Yi yi" that hadn't already been done by the time of Bresson's "Diary of a Country Priest"; that is, an existentialist film that has many transcendent elements and becomes much more than itself. The reason later Bresson films like "Mouchette" and "Pickpocket" don't reach the level of "Diary of a Country Priest" is because they are much more purely existentialist and lack enough transcendent 'poetic' elements. The same is true of Paul Schrader's films; there ain't no way in hell "Affliction" is on the same level of "Blue Collar" and "Hardcore" or even "American Gigolo," simply because those films temper their necessary existenialism with transcendenct aspects throughout that make the films dreamlike, mythic, beyond themselves.
Yang is on a similar wavelength here philosophically speaking to many of the great directors who came before him, because all their best films are precisely existenialist cinema that transcends itself. "The 400 Blows," "Boudou Saved From Drowning," "The Rules of the Game," "The River," "L'Avventura," "Taxi Driver," even most of Chaplin's and Tati's comedies, the list is very long and illustrious. In Yang's "Yi yi" the little boy is one of the transcendent symbols among the existential anguish of his elders' lives, and his perspective is that of the spirit that transcends; the constant Antonioni like intrusion of 'the trees and nature' on urban life, the way Yang structured the shots, their juxtaposition, as well as what goes on inside them is also reflective of a balancing act between the transcendent and existential, the yin and the yang.
Like in most Chinese and oriental films, things do seem to get a little too sentimental at times and sometimes you want to reach into the screen and slap some of the syrup out of the characters. The film was shot entirely on Digital Video and unfortunately looks a little grainy (unlike Agnes Varda's fantastic looking "The Gleaners and I" also shot mostly on DV), but Yang's sharp and aesthetically cultured eye more than makes up for it, as he offers up great shot after great shot, however grainy and annoying. The influence of Antonioni is unmistakable throughout and also that of Jacques Tati, not surprisingly, whose "Playtime" is one of the most profound films about modern life ever made. Above all, what I liked about Yi yi, was the fact that unlike Wong-Kar-WAi's endless, silly remakes of Godard's "Breathless," there wasn't a single disorienting 'poseur-modern' jump-cut or a single gun fired or even displayed in the entire film.
And, of course, there's nothing new in Yang's excellent film "Yi yi" that hadn't already been done by the time of Bresson's "Diary of a Country Priest"; that is, an existentialist film that has many transcendent elements and becomes much more than itself. The reason later Bresson films like "Mouchette" and "Pickpocket" don't reach the level of "Diary of a Country Priest" is because they are much more purely existentialist and lack enough transcendent 'poetic' elements. The same is true of Paul Schrader's films; there ain't no way in hell "Affliction" is on the same level of "Blue Collar" and "Hardcore" or even "American Gigolo," simply because those films temper their necessary existenialism with transcendenct aspects throughout that make the films dreamlike, mythic, beyond themselves.
Yang is on a similar wavelength here philosophically speaking to many of the great directors who came before him, because all their best films are precisely existenialist cinema that transcends itself. "The 400 Blows," "Boudou Saved From Drowning," "The Rules of the Game," "The River," "L'Avventura," "Taxi Driver," even most of Chaplin's and Tati's comedies, the list is very long and illustrious. In Yang's "Yi yi" the little boy is one of the transcendent symbols among the existential anguish of his elders' lives, and his perspective is that of the spirit that transcends; the constant Antonioni like intrusion of 'the trees and nature' on urban life, the way Yang structured the shots, their juxtaposition, as well as what goes on inside them is also reflective of a balancing act between the transcendent and existential, the yin and the yang.
Like in most Chinese and oriental films, things do seem to get a little too sentimental at times and sometimes you want to reach into the screen and slap some of the syrup out of the characters. The film was shot entirely on Digital Video and unfortunately looks a little grainy (unlike Agnes Varda's fantastic looking "The Gleaners and I" also shot mostly on DV), but Yang's sharp and aesthetically cultured eye more than makes up for it, as he offers up great shot after great shot, however grainy and annoying. The influence of Antonioni is unmistakable throughout and also that of Jacques Tati, not surprisingly, whose "Playtime" is one of the most profound films about modern life ever made. Above all, what I liked about Yi yi, was the fact that unlike Wong-Kar-WAi's endless, silly remakes of Godard's "Breathless," there wasn't a single disorienting 'poseur-modern' jump-cut or a single gun fired or even displayed in the entire film.