When they are at the wedding party and the fight breaks out, and they cut to a shot of NJ standing in the doorway with a couple bottles of baijiu in his hand. I relate to NJ like no other character I can think of in a movie (and I only turned 23 today).
And, when Yang Yang reads the Eulogy to his grandma. With this scene I can't exactly place why I like it so much. I believe it is because we have become so close to the characters that the semi-tragic ending offers us a longing. For what has happened before, for the family, and for the fact that the movie is finishing. I well up while it runs.
You guys?
By the way, I live in China. So it might be more relatable to me.
A number of scenes are favorites for me, including the two dinner meeting scenes between NJ and Ota. The first time I watched the film, I actually began crying/tearing up during the exchange/discussion that centered around the card trick/explanation. I cannot explain the feeling that came over me at that time, it was just something that had built up inside of me while watching this family's interactions/experiences, and the simple but meaningful conversation in the restaurant near the end just hit me with so much emotion for some reason.
I very much related to NJ throughout the film (though, like the original poster, am much younger than the character in the film) ... it's all due to some "missed opportunities" and adherence to others' desires over my own at certain points in life.
But having said that, I think my favorite character is probably the daughter, and I enjoy following her pivotal scenes. I think Kelly Lee's performance is phenomenal, and the way that her first date/relationship with Fatty is connected/mirrored with NJ's time with Sherry was very effectively displayed.
Other scenes that come to mind are the numerous reflective shots involving windows/glass/mirrors that seem to add deeper meaning to the story, and of course, little Yang-Yang's moment of awakening in the darkened auditorium. His reading of the letter to his dead grandmother, stated in the first post here, is also very touching and a perfect way to wrap things up.
I received this film as my current Netflix choice about a month ago. Having watched it four times now, I still do not want to send it back for the next movie in my queue ... that is how much I love this film.
Off the top of my head, the scene when NJ runs into his ex-girlfriend at the wedding in the beginning. She's all polite and proper, and then the elevator doors open again and she just goes off, "Why didn't you show up? I waited and waited for you!!" And in the next second, NJ's friend shows up and she's all polite again.
When Yang Yang pops the balloon and makes the girls cry.
When Yang Yang finishes swimming and he has the big smile on his face.
Reading this made me smile. I had just watched the movie tonight and was wrapped up with all the under current of sadness, loss and tragedy, that I forgot about the great moments in the film that made me smile. Yes, I agree that Yang Yang was very cute and a great performance from Jonathan Chang. The balloon scene was great and his little plots to get back at the older girls were great little scenes.
As was your first part about the bottled up repressed emotions from Sherry that are waiting to burst out between moments of civility when amongst friends!
Several, but the most impacting for me was probably when NJ told Sherry that she was the only woman he had ever loved. The way the scene was shot, the framing with tight hallway quarters, gave it an incredible intimacy. Only moments before, we learned how much he had lived as a result of others' will, becoming the engineer and such. It was really his whole character throughout, the timid honesty in dealing with situations at home, at work. Then he tells Sherry this, but the real power of the scene is in the simplicity that follows: he has to turn around and walk about four feet back to his own room. It made the moment so human, that the magnitude of his admittance was juxtaposed with something as mundane as turning around and going to bed.
My favourite scene is definitely NJ's final confession to his wife. There could be no better way for him to express himself, to explain who he is and what he does. His words say so much about the reasons behind common people's mundande lives, and why so many of us are still satisfied with them, why we wouldn't want things to be different despite the betrayal of our childhood dreams.
Maybe superficial, but the scene where Yang Yang first sees the girl's panties, then stares at her silhouette in front the movie of thunderstorms. Exactly what puberty was for me
All of the little boy's Yang Yang are lovely. I just love his great insight.
Like the one he is taking pictures to the walls in the building or the one with the photos of people's heads. In reality it has a reason. He is taking photos of mosquitos and showing people what they cannot see. Their backs. The other side. The one that they don't know about. It just shows his big curiosity for life around him.
Ota's wise words are great too. The words he used really touched me. And that scene with him and the bird in his shoulder. It was like he was synchonized with nature and the rhythm of life. Really good.