A Soap Opera That Might Have Worked in Small Installments

Yi Yi plays out like a smart soap opera but at three hours, it is just too long and too hard to stay with. In individual 30- or 40-minute installments, perhaps this would work, but as one very long tale, there is just not enough interesting material here.

There are some very good things about the film. The little boy was terrific. Edward Yang certainly shows talent as a director - even the most mundane scenes are beautifully composed, often in dramatic longshots.

I found all of the scenes involving NJ's business totally dull and irrelevant to moving the story forward. There is a good film lurking somewhere in Yi Yi but you would need a pair of scissors to find it.