Director Watch Podcast Ep. 172: 'Taipei Story' (Edward Yang, 1985)

On episode 172 of the Director Watch Podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter discuss the first film in their Edward Yang series, Taipei Story (1985).

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.

As Campion came to a close last week, the DW boys take a pivot to a Taiwanese master behind the camera, Edward Yang. Known for being one of the signature voices in the Taiwanese New Wave of the 1980s, Yang is mostly a blind spot filmmaker for the show's hosts, as Yang's vital filmmaking has been celebrated as some of the best films of the era, making the list for Sight and Sound multiple times, and being regarded as one of the masters of international cinema. With his first feature in the series, Taipei Story a look at a relationship dooms to fail, and the peaks and valleys the characters go through in order to understand what they want and need out of life in their present and futures; a massive, powerful film to start the series within. In what might be one of the most open, honest episodes of the podcast yet, Ryan and Jay break down their thoughts on the film and Yang, and where they see themselves right now in their lives next to the events of Taipei Story.

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 1h50m. The guys will be back later this week to continue their series on the films of Edward Yang with a review of his film, The Terrorizers (1986). You can watch it via Amazon Prime 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).