Monday, July 2, 2007
Film Edward Yang has died at 59
Posted by Jonathan Rosenbaum on Mon, Jul 2, 2007 at 2:49 PM
First Ousmane Sembene, the father of African cinema, who passed away at age 84 on June 9, and now the Taiwanese master Edward Yang. We're losing our giants.
Many of Sembene's major literary works are out of print (including Tribal Scars, a wonderful collection of stories that includes "The Promised Land," which his first feature, Black Girl, was based on; purchasing this essential paperback on Amazon now costs about $49). Only four of his ten features are available on English-subtitled DVDs, all of them recent releases. Even Black Girl, the one that still moves me the most, is available only in an imperfect copy. (The film's color sequence, which I've never seen in color, is printed in black and white.)
The situation regarding Edward Yang's films is even worse: only the last of his seven features, albeit one of the best, Yi Yi, is available on Amazon. The one I consider his greatest, A Brighter Summer Day (pictured) can be found extralegally or semilegally from at least a couple of different sources, as I explain in my current DVD column in the summer issue of Cinema Scope. The others, so far as I can tell, are still harder to find. I especially treasure Yang's 1985 Taipei Story, which features a striking performance by director Hou Hsiao-hsien, and his misunderstood and underrated 1996 Mahjong, the most devastating portrait of the ravages of capitalism on contemporary Taiwan that I know of.
I'm glad I was able to spend some time with Edward when he came to Chicago for a retrospective of his films at the Film Center (before it was the Gene Siskel Film Center) in late 1997--one of the few such retrospectives he had anywhere, to the best of my knowledge. Reflecting on why so many of his films should remain out of reach, I'm reminded of the little-known fact that a surprisingly large amount of the art cinema of both Taiwan and Hong Kong is financed by gangsters--or so it would appear, according to some of my more knowledgeable friends--which may or may not help to explain such anomalies as his films remaining inaccessible. It's also worth noting that with a few notable exceptions (e.g., Hou's City of Sadness), most Taiwanese art films, including those of Tsai Ming-liang, barely have commercial runs of any kind in Taiwan. If I'm not mistaken, Tsai's What Time Is It There? ran in Taipei for less than a week.
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The City University of New York's TV station has repeatedly shown TAIPEI STORY and THE TERRORIZER. If no legit video company is able or willing to license these titles, I hope some intrepid bootlegger is watching and has transferred these films to DVD-R.
Thanks to Mr. Yang for the hours of life-changing celluloid. RIP.
I am really so saddened by this news. I was lucky enough to see Brighter Summer Day and The Terrorizer and they're two of my favorite films. What a huge loss. On a separate note re: Black Girl, thanks Jonathan for pointing out the fact that there is a color sequence, which changes my whole perspective on the film in ways both fundamental and completely vague, as I've only seen it on the New Yorker DVD... Do you know which sequence is color - and any ideas as to how/where one might see the original? Oh, and a final question: how did Edward Yang die? 59 seems rather young. Also, what had he been up to in recent years? I was a great admirer of Yi Yi and was anxious to see what would come next...
I have no idea how one can see the color sequence; I believe it has something to do with the heroine's arrival in Nice, but this is strictly hearsay. For more about Edward Yang's death and late projects, follow the links in my post.
Mark, ironically these are the only two Yang's one can't illegally download.
strongly recommend J.R. to write some more formal retrospective article about Edward Yang.that's what we need!
Jonathan hs written on Yang here: http://www.chicagoreader.com/movies/archives/1197/11077.html
Regarding the color sequence in "Black Girl," I was lucky enough to see a 16mm print of the film in Milwaukee a few years ago that retained the color sequence. It is indeed when Diouana arrives in Nice, as she sees the scenery in beautiful, subdued color through the car windows as her employer drives her to his apartment.
Felipe: They're out there. Keep looking.
There was a Yang retrospective at the Toronto and Vancouver Cinematheques in 1998; I saw "A Brighter Summer Day" in Toronto and was floored. "Yi Yi" was also extraordinary. He presented "A Confucian Confusion" at the Vancouver Film Festival in 1994, and while light in tone it was technically flawless and very enjoyable. In the Q&A afterwards Tony Rayns, who introduced the film, asked him why there were so many scenes in elevators, and he answered that it was because they were so easy to light... RIP.
I consider "The Terrorizer" in the same league with "A Brighter Summer Day" and most Asian critics in Taiwan and Hong Kong consider it his best at the time and according to Peggy Chiao even an improvement over "Taipei Story". The point is that it is a forgotten masterpiece in the western world. No doubt due to its lack of exposure. It has the the kind of precision cannot be found again in his later films. Everyone has their own "Citizen Kane", (a film I don't even like) and "The Terrorizer" was my own Citizen Kane of a movie as it taught me many things about the cinema. It is time for people to stop comparing Yang's films to Antonioni's when in fact he was more of an admirer of Bresson, Herzog and, much to my satisfaction, Naruse. (Antonioni's newer work that I saw, "Beyong The Clouds" is an embarrassment.) RIP. Edward Yang.
for Jonathan R- Hi, I am a fan of yours and interested in becoming a film critic. What is your personal life like? Are you married? Do you have any kids? Friends? Or do you have to shut yourself in, neglect everything, and watch movies all day every day? I'm willing to do what it takes. BTW, my favorite films include Casino, Adaptation, Fight Club, among other classics. Thanks
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