Edward Yang
I was sad to hear that Taiwanese filmmaker Edward Yang 楊德昌 died so young. I’d only seen one of his films, Yi yi (”A One and a Two”), but it ranks amongst the best Taiwanese films, moreover Yang was still quite young at 59, having died after a seven year long battle with cancer.
Interestingly, most Taiwanese have never seen Yi yi, Yang having refused to distribute it here. I believe he was upset by how little support Taiwanese distributors and audiences gave to their own filmmakers (as opposed to Hollywood), but his disdain can be contrasted with Tsai Ming-liang 蔡明亮 who actively travelled around the country showing his films at universities and giving lectures.
Still, Yi yi remains a stingingly accurate portrayal of the hopes, aspirations, and frustrations of the Taiwanese middle class. It also deserves mention for having NY Bagels prominently featured in a couple of scenes.
Now I feel compelled to try to see his other films.
{Edward Yang, 楊德昌, film}
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Comments
Le Monde devoted a half page to an obituary of Edward Yang by one of their principal film critics, Jacques Mandelbaum. Their coverage included a headline on the paper’s front page.
[…] Taiwanese director Edward Yang died in California. He’s most famous for the film “Yi Yi” - has anyone seen it? It sounds interesting. More thoughts here […]
An anthropologist and documentary filmmaker, 
Yi Yi, what a great movie.