YI YI

Internationally acclaimed national Chinese movie YI YI tells the story of an extended Chinese family living in Taipei. The movie opens with a wedding where the bride-to-be is very pregnant. Her husband to be, Liang, waited for the luckiest day to have the wedding, according to their horoscopes. Liang’s grandmother does not accept his bride, and Liang’s former lover disrupts the wedding.

The grandmother goes home. Granddaughter Ting-Ting tries to clean up the apartment, but she forgets one of the garage bags when her father NJ takes her back to the wedding.

At the wedding, NJ is concerned about his 8-year-old son, Yang-Yang, who won’t eat because the little girls at the wedding are teasing him. NJ takes his son out for fast food.

When he returns, he accidentally meets Sherry at the elevator, who was his first love 30 years ago in high school. Sheri makes it clear that she wants to hear from him.

When NJ and his family arrive home after the wedding, they find out that the grandmother fell next to the garbage and is in a coma.

Eventually, they bring grandmother home from the hospital, still in a coma. Min-Min the wife tries to talk to her, but finds that she has nothing to say to her mother. Min-Min is so devastated by the emptiness of her life and the condition of her mother that she goes off to a Buddhist retreat, which is clearly mocked as a cult.

NJ’s computer company, meanwhile, is suffering huge losses. He is appointed to make a deal with the leading Japanese game developer. He calls Sherry on the way to Japan and meets her on this business trip.

Meanwhile, little Yang-Yang, an adorable boy and great actor, is being harassed by everyone at school, including his teacher. It is clear that Yang-Yang wants to do the right thing and is the future of the family.

Many other complications occur with other family members, as well as neighbors. The next door mother and daughter are having many affairs, as well as many yelling and screaming matches. Eventually, one of the neighbors’ boyfriends kills another one of the neighbors’ boyfriends. Through all of these complications, NJ is the moral compass for the movie.

YI YI is a very complex and rich film. The director shows the frailty of human existence without dwelling on the ugliness. The director, Edward Yang, does not actually show the murder that takes place, but rather symbolizes it with a computer game murder, and the adultery and fornication also occur off screen.

However, in spite of the fact that the movie has a moral point, this is a world where immoral activity occurs often, including cursing, adultery, fornication, and murder. Furthermore it’s a world where superstition controls the lives of many of the characters, although NJ rejects superstition.

YI YI is a well-crafted look at life in a very contemporary, westernized Eastern culture. The only things that seem to be missing are a strong biblical worldview and the hope that alone can be found in Jesus Christ.