Yi Yi (2000)

Life’s journey from birth to death.

**Worth watching? 💯 If you are a fan of slice-of-life films, then this is a double must-watch for you.**

Surprisingly, there's only one review of this masterpiece. I don’t often write reviews, which might explain my inexperienced writing. However, I’m here to share my thoughts.

This movie is a profound life experience. It begins with a wedding and ends with death, symbolizing the journey from the start of life to its inevitable end. It captures the journey from childhood innocence to youthful naivety and ultimately to the regrets of adulthood. This movie connected the unconnected individual in one knot. Highlights the various stages of life, each with its own existential crises, struggles, and perspectives from different characters. The film powerfully articulates the sense of isolation or disconnection that can linger, even in the company of many. The film teaches acceptance and helps us confront our own truths that we often ignore or fear to acknowledge.

From a storytelling viewpoint, as well as an aesthetic one, this film is a visual treat. The cinematography and camera work are exceptionally well-crafted.

Let’s end this review with one of my fav quote sections from the movie :
- "𝙇𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙢𝙞𝙭𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙖𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨. 𝙈𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙤 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙮 𝙬𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢. 𝙈𝙮 𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙡𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙮𝙨 - '𝙬𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙨'"
- "𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘦?"
- "𝙄𝙩 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙪𝙨 𝙩𝙬𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙙𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚”

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As a historical and cultural marker, this film is pretty famous and has a lot of symbolism and motifs of modernity, tradition, Westernization/globalization, repetition, reflections, class struggles, and the circularity of life that are really interesting to break down in a culture class. I appreciate all the little foreshadowing in dialogue, and the parallel of different storylines.

Whether I ENJOYED watching the show is a different matter altogether. It was definitely long, and a lot of the time it was hard to be truly engaged. Some of the acting was kind of cringe, from over-the-top sobbing to stiff dialogue.

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