According to the bonus featurette on the Modern Taiwan Cinema (found in the Criterion release), Edward Yang was so frustrated with Taiwanese distribution that he has never allowed Yi Yi to be released in Taiwan. Apparently to this day...
I have never actually heard this before and am quite surprised. I also find it a bit sad... I consider this film to be quite a treasure of Taiwanese filmmaking.
If it's true, I feel bad for the Taiwanese. This is the best film ever.
my ymdb site
http://www.ymdb.com/mehsuggeth/l35858_ukuk.html
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As far as I remembered
'Yi Yi' actually screened at least 3 times (or more) at different occasions in Taiwan.
Including some festivals and a speicial screening in NTCU (National Chiao-Tung University, where he studied Electrical Engineering.)
no DVD released either. (but people in Taiwan can buy HK or US version DVD from internet)
That's too bad. I caught it on IFC one day, and had to watch the whole thing. I thought it was one of the best movie ever came out of Taiwan, since "Eat, drink, man and woman".
shareI was born in Taiwan but spent most of my teen years in Toronto. I first caught this film at the Toronto IFF (At least I think it's IFF) and fell in love with it. I recommended to most of my friends who are mostly spent their childhood in Taiwan but went to high school and then college in Canada. And most of them in this particular group liked the film and thought it was touching. So I went on recommending it to some friends who actually grew up, got educated, and lives in Taiwan. I actually had to buy and mail a copy to Taipei because it wasn't released there.
BUT, to my surprise the response I got was totally different, my friends in Taiwan find the film depressing and "just" depressing. This simply boggles my mind. My theory is that where as we (outside Taiwan) could look at the film and find warmth and joy the many facets of life presented in this film but to people who actually live it, i.e. goes through what the characters goes through, this is not the epitome of life but the physical process of it. As in, for us this film is a representation of life but for them, this is living. Can anyone offer another theory?
Anyhow, loves this film no matter what and I will still recommend it with all my might.
Thoughtful post, Ray-yt-Chen. Thanks. I think generally there's an inability to see the hope and love in something if it isn't full of the bells and whistles of fake whimsy: it has to be like the movie, "Love Is Nice," which Homer has to endure in "The Simpsons" while he's temporarily intelligent.
"Yi Yi" just closed the Golden Horse Film Festival. Yang also got the Lifetime Achievement Award. People like you when you're dead.
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This is interesting to see as I just moved back to Taiwan, I shall try to find it and let you all know how it goes. Being an old thread maybe it has since been released.
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