Director Watch Podcast Ep, 177: 'Yi Yi' (Edward Yang, 2000)

On episode 177 of the Director Watch Podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter discuss the final film in their Edward Yang series, Yi Yi (2000).

Welcome back to Director Watch! On this AwardsWatch podcast, the boys attempt to breakdown, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema's greatest auteurs. In doing so, they will look at their filmographies, explore what drives them artistically and what makes their decision making process so fascinating. Add in a few silly tangents and a fun game at the end of the episode and you've got yourself a podcast we truly hope you love.

In his final masterpiece of not only this series but of his career, Yang delivered his last cinematic investigation, insight into his country, this time from the perspective of people his own age, centering the narrative around a middle class family struggling to accept the world and roles they have in society, school, work, and in their home. In doing so, Yang gives us his most vital film, about the regrets of the past meeting the reality of the moment that result in heartbreak and silence in the future, done in such an elegant, beautiful fashion. Ryan and Jay discuss their thoughts on the film, Yang's overall statement within the film, his career being cut short by illness, and the themes of the film that resonated and are shined a light on throughout the director's filmography. They also give their ranks of the films they reviewed in the series and preview the next series they will be covering, starting next week. 

You can listen to the Director Watch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more. You can also listen on the AW YouTube page.

This podcast runs 1h20m. The guys will be back later next week to begin their series on the films of Richard Kelly with a review of his first film, Donnie Darko. You can rent it via iTunes and Amazon Prime rental in preparation for the next episode of Director Watch. Till then, let's get into it.

Music: MUSICALIFE, from Pond5 (intro) and "B-3" from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).