Feature Film | Crime-Drama | Taiwan/Portugal/UK | Mandarin | 3h46m
Dir: Edward Yang | Scr: Hung Hung, Lai Mingtang, Yang Alex, & Edward Yang | Ph: Zhang Longyu & Li Huigong | Prod: Yu Weiyan | Ed: Chen Bo-Wen | PD: Yu Weiyan | Snd: Tu Du-Che | Cast: Zhang Zhen, Lisa Yang, Zhang Guozhu, Elaine Jin, Wang Juan, Chang Han, Chiang Hsiu-Chiung, Lai Fanyun, Wong Chi Zan, Lawrence Ko, Tan Zhigang, Zhang Mingxin, Rong Junlong, Zhou Huiguo
Based upon a notorious incident from 1960 in which the 14-year-old son of a civil servant became the first juvenile convicted of murder under the new post-Japanese Taiwanese regime, A Brighter Summer Day unhurriedly depicts the weeks leading up to the night that the troubled adolescent killed his 13-year-old girlfriend. Against the backdrop of Chinese immigration, military rule, rock & roll, and warring street gangs, Edward Yang gently paints a portrait of the young boy and his family and friends. Beautifully paced and impeccably directed, the film nevertheless proves unrelentingly bleak, with seldom even a chink of hope penetrating its chilly surface.
