Dialogue series in which Junichi Kobayashi, A PEOPLE editor in chief, talks with Toji Aida, who makes novelizations and writing on movies. The fourth theme is Edward Yang, which is also covered in the talk live held on June 9.
Junichi Kobayashi: "Taiwanese masterpiece 2018" is being held. It is a meaningful plan, such as the first appearance of Wan Len's long movie in Japan. 5 works of Edward Yang are screened. The movement of Edward Yang reevaluation which began with the reopening of "A Brighter Summer Day" does not seem to stop. Most of his DVDs are on loan at TSUTAYA in Shibuya. For this time, I would like to think about Edward Yang, focusing on the debut film's “Time Story" and "Yan Yang Summer's Memories" by his remains.
Toji Aida: Our generation was the era of mini theaters, and I saw Edward Yang in a privileged consciousness. Now the people do not feel like that in the cinema-complex era. The viewpoint of the movie is simple; it seems it was awesome after all when it touched legend. The threshold has become very low, and I think it is a very good thing. “A Brighter Summer Day" and "Terrorizers" are overwhelming works remaining in the film history. The world is different in "Time Story" and "Yi Yi: A One and a Two". Watching them now, there are feelings that the circle is tied with these two. A boy appears in both. Tiny boy. The girl he adores is taller. The admiration that a boy looks up at a girl is an important term of Edward Yang.
"Time Story"
Kobayashi: "Time Story" is a story of "hope" as the Japanese title says. "Yi Yi: A One and a Two" looks like a gentle and cheerful movie, but I think it is a story of despair. In the world of "Yi Yi", the boy, main character, is the only not despairing. The point is that Yi Yi is does not talk to his bedridden grandmother with her eyes closed. Yi Yi believes only what he sees. Those who are only seeing what they see live in present. When everyone becomes an adult, the future comes into view, which means to assume a possible future. In the first half, adults are looking for things, and there are several scenes they forget what they are looking for. That represents the state of forgetting the future. It is a state of a child. The reason that the story is activated at "Yi Yi" is that the mother said "It’s impossible, disgusting" then disappeared. It is his mother's despair. After that, his father was revenged in the past and his older sister was betrayed by the expected future.
Aida: I think it is important Yi Yi shoots people's back. It is not an easy hope. It is not an ordinary despair. You cannot see the face, right? But the face is facing somewhere. We do not know what kind of face it is, but seeing that happens is that it faces the future. No matter what future is waiting. It is not assuming that there is something good in the future, or something bright. People can live only by turning their heads. It's simple; it's not a lukewarm message. This may be "unconsciousness of the movie", but I think it’s an amazing thing.
Kobayashi: The future of "Time Story" is that love will start, if you bring a notebook to a college student next to you to be taught. However, when you try, your older sister is in the fore, kissing and you’re hopeless. The menarche also comes and becomes an adult. It was the hope for the title including despair. In the world of Edward Yang, there is a composition that what you want is usually betrayed. It shifts. It feels like it’s been like that for a while. When you fall in love you live the future. It's wonderful, but it means starting to lose something. We only saw the present when we were children, when there were nothing to lose. The first form of the future appears as love. Although Yi Yi is living only in reality, he eventually starts to live in love with a tall girl. He thinks for the first time a possible future. In other words, he becomes an adult. That's why he says "I'm old" at the end.
Aida: It would be nice to be like this. However, it is an Edward Yang-like conclusion that the future cannot be as it wishes.
Kobayashi: It turns with a group image, both in "Terrorizers" and "Couples."
"Terrorizers"
Aida: That is complicated. In that sense, the future would not be as desired, but it is still worth living.
Kobayashi: To have to live is "A Brighter Summer Day", and to live is "Yi Yi".
