Film Forum

Taiwan, 1985
Directed by Edward Yang
Written by Chu T'ien-wen, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Edward Yang
Starring Tsai Chin, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Ko I-chen, Ko Su-yun, Wu Nien-jen
Approx. 110 min.

“The central story is of Chin (Tsai Chin, a Taiwanese pop star and the director’s wife at the time), a young woman who hopes her professional advancement can lift her out of a dreary family home, and Lung (Hou Hsiao-hsien, himself a great director and also a writer of this screenplay), her seemingly aimless, baseball-obsessed boyfriend. The opening scene shows them looking at a potential new apartment for Chin; “not bad,” is the ultimate verdict, and that sentiment is about as good as it gets for these two. Almost as soon as Chin moves into the place, she loses her job and briefly engages a jaded architect at her former company in what could be the prelude to an affair.” – Glenn Kenny, The New York Times
 

Reviews

“Centers on the slow disintegration of a relationship, an erosion that mirrors the abrading effects of both tradition and modernization.”
– Melissa Anderson, The Village Voice