Edward Yang's Taipei Story is a film which flows with the speed and rhythms of life itself. It's narratively indulgent, but visually beautiful, resplendent in the 80s/90s East Asian Polaroid look that I adore. I'm not entirely sure if I liked it, but I'm glad I saw it. I do have a couple of issues with it. For instance, I'm not sure it successfully followed through with what it wanted to say about commercialism and the newfound ubiquity of Western consumer goods and culture. The whole culture war aspect felt muddied, despite being a major point of focus. I occasionally had trouble following the plot since Yang doesn't always spell out exactly what's going on in any particular scene and how it ties together with the larger narrative. But I'm willing to chalk that up to the same problem Peter Bogdanovich reportedly had following the plot to Orson Welles Touch of Evil (1958): he was too enamored with the visuals to pay close attention to what was actually happening. I'm not sure it deserves the same recognition as Yang's later masterpieces A Brighter Summer Day (1991) and Yi Yi (2000). But considering the rarity of Yang's work in the West, I would recommend jumping on any chance to see it.
7/10
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