Yi Yi is the kind of movie where it would mean very different things to you depending on where you are in your life. A teenager would have a very different experience watching this than a senior would. Because of that, a few years down the road, I can’t wait to revisit this. That isn’t the only reason I would call this a masterpiece though. This film shows the way our lives can change in such a brief period of time better than almost any other movie that I’ve seen.

By the end of the film, I knew all the characters by the back of my hand, as well. It felt like I’d known all of them for years. The crazy thing is, this movie didn’t even feel that long either. If nobody had told me how long it was, I would’ve guessed about 2 hours or so. 

I’m not going to say whether I prefer this or A Brighter Summer Day better though, because they mean very different things to me. A Brighter Summer Day feels like a much more grand story to me, and Yi Yi feels much smaller. That’s not to say it isn’t grand, because it definitely is, but not in the same way as the former. I know that for sure I like this one almost as much, if not as much, as that one though. Either way, I can already say Edward Yang is one of my all time favorite directors, and I’ve only seen two of his films.

I can’t recommend Yi Yi enough.