Taipei Story

Taipei Story is considered one of the most important works of the Taiwanese New Wave, and one of Edward Yang’s (Yi Yi, A Brighter Summer Day) best films.

We follow a series of alienated individuals in Taiwan during the economic boom and rapid modernization of the 1980s, including Chin, a very ambitious career woman (played by Tsai Chin, a Taiwanese pop star, who married Edward Yang after the filming), and her boyfriend (played by director Hou Hsiao-hsien, who was also one of the screenwriters) – a former baseball star who spends his days watching VHS recordings of old baseball games.

The film opens with Chin and Lung looking at a new apartment for Chin. She moves in, loses her job, and engages an architect from her former company, in what becomes the prelude to a possible romantic relationship. While Chin drifts in a more or less hedonistic direction, Lung tries to help various people he knows, but without managing to take control of his own life.

Many have compared Taipei Story to the films of Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni, in the way it portrays urban alienation and seemingly successful people who have lost direction in their lives. On a certain level, it’s about disillusionment and disappointment, but Yang tells the story with vitality and stylistic confidence, making this a powerful cinematic experience.

Cinemateket in Oslo

Director

Edward Yang (1947-2007) was a Taiwanese filmmaker often associated with the Taiwanese New Wave cinema of the 1980s. He is known for classics such as Taipei Story (1985), Terrorizers (1986), A Brighter Summer Day (1991), and Yi Yi (2001).

This film is part of