A Brighter Summer Day (1991)

Edward Yang's A Brighter Summer's Day is a very effective epic. However, unlike epic films made in the U.S., Yang's movie is epic on a more intimate level, as it focuses on the daily life of a Chinese family during turbulent times.

There are no melodramatic scenes, everything feels authentic and honest. Of course, a film of such high quality as this is a tough sell in the U.S., hence it wasn't released here. Or if it is ever released, it will be heavily edited down.

Yang's film has allusions to Tolstoy's War and Peace, and its gangster elements are refereshingly unique compared to other gangster movies. If you get the chance to watch this four hour movie, do so by all means. I saw the entire film in one sitting without one restroom break!

Fmovies: Edward Yang's four-hour study of Taiwanese youth gangs in 1960 and their search for personal and national identity is a stunning film; its scope and narrative power reminded me of seeing "The Godfather" for the first time. One remarkable thing about Yang's direction is the virtual absence of close-ups. The action is often shot through a doorway, window, or facade that obscures part of the world within; there's always a sense of life going on beyond the boundary of the frame. That this film hasn't been released in America is a crime.

Time for some counterbalance. For me it was quite a challenge to sit this one through. There has been much praise for its historical significance, its lyricism and the remarkable feats of the actors; I found it boring, monotonous and slightly pretentious. Am I the only one here or do the like-minded just not care to review on it?

The main character, S'ir, lacked charisma and the attempt to tell so many stories at once results in a serious lack of coherence. The only things I may remember from this film are the magnetic 'rebel without a cause' Honey and the little guy singing in his rock 'n roll band. The rest is just a drag. Four hours longÂ…

A Brighter Summer Day fmovies. This movie is a Taiwan movie,I am a Chinese college student living in mainland.I think I should take response to write a review,because I see all the reviewers are not Chinese who cant know the background of this movie.there are something followed about Chines cultures and background.

Fist,in the movie period,china had two governments,one is communist party in mainland,the other is GuoMin party in Taiwan.Korean War made Communist part cant have enough power to invade Taiwan,but Guomin party still wanted to return to mainland by getting help from America.But as we all know,Guomin party just stays in Taiwan to now. And they were just in a fear of communist party military coming into Taiwan.At that special period,another fears were among all ordinary people in Taiwan. The president of Guomin party began to arrest communist spy in Guomin party.in fact,the secret arrest was a terrible horrible to people in Taiwan. This special period is called as 'white fear period',and so many innocent persons dead at that time.

So,you can see tanks were running in road，and dad were arrested for suspects communist spy.At all,the fears were among whole society.

what's more, in 1949 there were million people fleeing to Taiwan for following the Guomin Party. And many knowledge persons and military officers also in the process.this led government couldn'却 have enough money to pay and enough food to feed . many people lose their jobs.This is a hard time for many families. And it was not a peace time. it is a hungry time, Ming's family is a example.

Although,the director want to tell a lesson , don'却 try to change the bad world.but we can know he still have a soft and ideal heart but getting hurt too much.

I just finished watching this four hour epic and something tells me that this is going to remain with me for a long, long time. I was glad I entered the cinema hall with no foreknowledge of what the film was about or anything about the story, except that it was directed by Edward Yang, whose Yi Yi I liked. Am I not glad I did that? The entire film, especially the second half, is an emotional powerhouse. Its funny, sociological and emotionally brutal.

The four hour run time was quite a deterrent however I planned it well and took one bathroom break but it was all worth it in the end. I would not recommend that you read anything of the story before you watch the film because several of the reviews above have spoilers in them. All I'll say is that it is about street gangs, but like nothing you've ever seen. It about lost childhood and children growing up so fast that its scary. The fact that all of this really happened makes it chilling.

I'm surprised that not many people have seen this film yet because it certainly deserves a classic status. The direction is probably one of the best I've ever experienced and I will definitely seek out other Edward Yang movies to watch.

The acting by all the teenage actors and children is nothing short of brilliant and I can see that some of the key actors never acted in another movie again which I believe is a waste.

I don't think its out on video as yet, however I would highly recommend that you seek it out. In my opinion the film demands total attention and is best watched on the big screen rather than on video.

I saw this film on screen in 2005. The place I saw it was an old-fashioned theater in the middle of Seoul, South Korea. The film print was one of the last surviving print of this film, which is now worn out too much for another screening. It was about three years ago, and I frankly do not much about the plot. Two things, however, were still in my mind. First of all, it was much more a film with tranquility. Think about Edward Yang's last film 'Yi Yi.' Do you remember the scene where there were two teenagers walking on the street and there were scarcely any sound effect but someone's monologue? The whole film was like that. The other thing is that, despite of it deals with serious subject matters such as Taiwan's cruel anti-communist regime, it still has a sense of humor: in fact, a plenty of it. For me, now this film is like a lost summer love: passionate but vague. If complicated copyright issues be solved and clean prints of this film to be found, I'd really like to recommend this film; it is a long four-hour movie, but every minute is worth it.