Film Forum

Taiwan
Includes:
Little Dragon Head (1982, Tao Te-chen)
Expectations (1982, Edward Yang)
Leapfrog (1982, Ko I-chen)
Say Your Name (1982, Yi Chang)
Approx. 110 min. DCP Courtesy Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute.

“The Taiwanese new wave—a film movement whose earthiness and restrained realism have had a lasting impact on world cinema—began modestly with this 1982 omnibus, which contains four episodes set in different decades. Though neither the long takes nor the unconventional narrative structures that would become the new wave’s stylistic innovations are present here, it’s remarkable how well-developed the movement’s major themes were at the outset: rural life, loneliness, and childhood are all explored in the first two episodes, directed by Tao Te-chen and a then-unknown Edward Yang, while Ko Yi-cheng and Chang Yi’s broadly comic third and fourth episodes tackle urban life and the perils of young adulthood. Yang’s episode is the standout, displaying an uncommon sensitivity in handling its protagonist, a teenage girl.” – Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, Chicago Reader

“Announces the ambition of the New Taiwan Cinema: to eschew studio-bound escapism and melodrama in favor of a hard-hitting cinema grounded in everyday life.” – David Pendleton, Harvard Film Archive notes