A Delicate, Confident Look at the Wonder of Humanity

Edward Yang, writer-director of “Yi Yi,” a wise and gentle comedy of manners from Taiwan, has chosen “A One and a Two” as his English title, and his choice of the words musicians use before they begin seems increasingly inspired as this wonderfully humanistic film unfolds.

Opening with a wedding and closing with a funeral, “Yi Yi” investigates the entire melody of life: the delicate balance between love and disillusion, the short distance between farce and tragedy, the way different generations have to confront the same difficulties in their own ways, and how what’s important is always with us yet simultaneously just out of reach.

Most of all, “Yi Yi” deals with the conundrums of romance, the wonder and perplexity of mutual attraction, what it springs from and where it goes. It’s a delicate film but a strong one, graced with the ability to see life whole, the grief hidden in happiness as well as the humor inherent in sadness. Its subject, to borrow a phrase, is the dance to the music of time we all have to participate in.

The popular winner of the best director award at the Cannes Film Festival, “Yi Yi” marks the first time a film by director Yang, a key figure in the Taiwanese New Wave (and a USC film school dropout), has had significant American distribution. It’s nearly three hours long, but with events intertwining as subtly yet resiliently as ivy-covered vines, time is forgotten in our involvement in problems and situations that are complex yet universal.

Central to this family narrative is NJ (Wu Nienjen), a partner in a Taipei computer company who’s married with a son and a daughter, an aging mother-in-law, a feckless brother-in-law, even a first love he hasn’t seen in decades. Each of these people has a strong narrative position in “Yi Yi,” and we experience their myriad emotional entanglements, their attempts to make the best of their lives’ perplexing conditions--professional as well as personal. When NJ says, “There’s very little I’m sure about these days,” he’s speaking for this entire extended family as well.

NJ’s wife Min-Min (Elaine Jin), the dynamo who holds everyone together, sets off ripples when fears that her life is without meaning send her to an ashram for an indeterminate stay, leaving everyone to their own devices at what seems an especially unsettled time.

Her brother A-Di (Chen Xisheng), though recently married to his pregnant bride (Xiao Shushen), is still very much a child who can’t seem to terminate his relationship with his strong-minded former girlfriend (Zeng Xinyi). And NJ and Min-Min’s two children have their own dilemmas as well.

Unsophisticated high schooler Ting-Ting (Kelly Lee) gets caught up in the romantic entanglements of a single mother and her teenage daughter who move in next door. And her 8-year-old brother Yang-Yang (an irresistible Jonathan Chang) divides his time between asking profound questions about the nature of life no one is prepared to answer and getting picked on by his fellow students and an unreasonable teacher.

Father NJ, however, is oblivious to most of this, so all-consuming do his own problems seem to him. His company is going through a potentially fatal financial crisis, and fate puts him back in touch with old flame Sherry Chang-Breitner (Ke Suyun), the woman who may or may not be the love of his life.

In telling this complicated story, Yang utilizes a deliberate, masterful style that defines “unhurried.” His accepting sensibility has a way of immersing an audience in his characters and situations. With actors completely inhabiting their roles, “Yi Yi” feels like it’s happening right in front of us, with a satisfying immediacy.

One of Yang’s techniques is the way he periodically holds the camera unmoving, at a small remove from the action. This may sound distancing, but it actually comes off as accepting. Yang not only trusts viewers to understand he’s far from unconcerned but also believes in the powerful emotion inherent in his situations. He knows “Yi Yi’s” passions are strong enough to involve us, and his confidence is more than repaid.

* Unrated. Times guidelines: adult subject matter.

‘Yi Yi’ (A One and a Two)

Wu Nienjen: NJ Jian

Issey Ogata: Mr. Ota

Elaine Jin: Min-Min

Kelly Lee: Ting-Ting

Jonathan Chang: Yang-Yang

J1+2 Seisaku Iinkai, Pony Canyon Inc. & Omega Project Inc. present an Atom Films Production, released by Winstar. Director Edward Yang. Producers Kawai Shinya, Tsukeda Naoko. Screenplay Edward Yang. Cinematographer Yang Weihan. Editor Chen Bowen. Music Peng Kaili. Production design Peng Kaili. Art director Wang Zhengkai. Running time: 2 hours, 53 minutes.

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