Edward Yang: A city and a world in eight and a quarter films
A schoolboy unsheathes a samurai sword left in Taiwan by a repatriated Japanese general. He can’t speak a word of English but loves crooning Elvis and, despite his short stature, defends his friends from gangs in his postwar military village. In 1990s post-boom Taipei, a convenience store owner foolishly decides to franchise kindergartens and ends up owing millions to the mob. An estranged couple have their last conversation in a dark apartment, realising that emigration to the US and starting over is just an illusion.
All the above are scenes and characters from the films of Edward Yang, a Taiwanese director of great breadth and intimacy who completed just eight-and-a-quarter works before dying of cancer in 2007. Taipei was his chosen subject, but in effect it was any globalising city. He walked the line between hope and desire, showing rare human connection — and the greed and defensiveness that thwart it.
Originally published in The Financial Times on July 19, 2023
