Yi Yi

The extraordinary, internationally embraced Yi Yi (A One and a Two . . .) — the final film directed by the late Taiwanese master Edward Yang — follows a middle-class family in Taipei over the course of one year, beginning with a wedding and ending with a funeral. Whether chronicling middle-age father NJ’s tentative flirtations with an old flame or precocious young son Yang-Yang’s attempts at capturing reality with his beloved camera, the filmmaker deftly imbues every gorgeous frame with a compassionate clarity.

Yang specialized in epic portraits of ordinary people, but Yi Yi was his first film to focus on multiple generations of a single family. With just a handful of intensely dramatic moments, Yi Yi builds a monumental quality across its nearly three-hour run time through an intricate narrative that tracks various members of the Jian clan. The result is a rich mosaic that portrays related individuals growing and discovering themselves amid work, love, and loss.

Warm, sprawling, and dazzling, this intimate epic is one of the undisputed masterworks of the new century. Yi Yi screens in a new 4K digital restoration carried out by Pony Canyon Inc., with analog and digital processes provided by Imagica Entertainment Media Services, Inc.

Part of our "Restorations & Rediscoveries" series. In Mandarin with Courtesy of Janus Films.