Yi Yi (A One and a Two...)
Director: Edward Yang
Year Released: 2000
Rating: 2.5
Catatonic and unmoving for the first two acts, Yi Yi's emotional side never really becomes evident until the last hour, when Yang actually allows you to feel for the characters. I can't say I appreciate the "Security Camera" approach, where the actors engage in conversations roughly thirty yards from where the camera is sitting, motionless, scene after scene. The philosophical principles are laid out - Ozu's influence is clear, not to mention Bergman and his interest in spiritual crisis: the world is in the middle of one (his hero is just a small example: he's questioning the decisions he made in life). As a rule, I tend to be wary of films that critics refuse to criticize, and this seems to be one of them - while it is intelligent and mature, it is also entirely too long, almost unbearably depressing and too 'neat' in the similarity between the father's main narrative and the narratives of his offspring.
