Edward Yang

Directing

Edward Yang

Born — Died

1947-11-06 — 2007-06-29

Place of birth

中国上海, Shanghai, Cina

Known for

Directing

Credits

36 titles

Edward Yang (Chinese: 楊德昌; pinyin: Yáng Déchāng; November 6, 1947 – June 29, 2007) was a Taiwanese filmmaker. Yang, along with fellow auteurs Hou Hsiao-hsien and Tsai Ming-liang, was one of the leading film-makers of the Taiwanese New Wave and Taiwanese Cinema. Yang's singular visual style has been defined by deliberate pacing, long takes, fixed camera, few closeups, empty spaces, and cityscapes. His films prominently feature themes of struggle between tradition and modernity, and between business and art, set against the backdrop of an evolving Taiwanese society.

Known for

Film credits

1990s · 4 titles

1980s · 4 titles

Behind the camera

Yi Yi poster
8.0

Each member of a family in Taipei asks hard questions about life's meaning as they live through everyday quandaries. NJ is morose: his brother owes him money, his mother is in a coma, his wife suffers a spiritual crisis when she finds her life a blank and his business partners make bad decisions.

Yi Yi

2000

Yi Yi poster
8.0

Each member of a family in Taipei asks hard questions about life's meaning as they live through everyday quandaries. NJ is morose: his brother owes him money, his mother is in a coma, his wife suffers a spiritual crisis when she finds her life a blank and his business partners make bad decisions.

Yi Yi

2000

A Brighter Summer Day poster
8.2

A boy experiences first love, friendships and injustices growing up in 1960s Taiwan.

A Brighter Summer Day

1991

A Brighter Summer Day poster
8.2

A boy experiences first love, friendships and injustices growing up in 1960s Taiwan.

A Brighter Summer Day

1991

Taipei Story poster
7.5

A young woman urgently seeks to navigate the maze of contemporary Taipei and find a future. She hopes that her boyfriend Lung is the key to the future, but Lung is stuck in a past that combines baseball and traditional loyalty that leads him to squander his nest egg bailing her father out of financial trouble.

Taipei Story

1985

Taipei Story poster
7.5

A young woman urgently seeks to navigate the maze of contemporary Taipei and find a future. She hopes that her boyfriend Lung is the key to the future, but Lung is stuck in a past that combines baseball and traditional loyalty that leads him to squander his nest egg bailing her father out of financial trouble.

Taipei Story

1985

Terrorizers poster
7.4

An uncompromising look into urban life from the eyes of a voyeuristic photographer, a rebellious teenager, and a married couple teetering on the edge of adultery.

Terrorizers

1986

Terrorizers poster
7.4

An uncompromising look into urban life from the eyes of a voyeuristic photographer, a rebellious teenager, and a married couple teetering on the edge of adultery.

Terrorizers

1986

A Confucian Confusion poster
7.5

Over the course of a few days, the paths of a group of young friends, lovers, and acquaintances in Taipei intersect, prompting them to arrive at realizations about their lives.

A Confucian Confusion

1994

A Confucian Confusion poster
7.5

Over the course of a few days, the paths of a group of young friends, lovers, and acquaintances in Taipei intersect, prompting them to arrive at realizations about their lives.

A Confucian Confusion

1994

Mahjong poster
7.5

Amid a rapidly changing cityscape, the lives of a disparate group of swindlers, hustlers, gangsters, and expats collide, with a naive French teenager and a sensitive young local who tries to protect her caught dangerously in the middle.

Mahjong

1996

Mahjong poster
7.5

Amid a rapidly changing cityscape, the lives of a disparate group of swindlers, hustlers, gangsters, and expats collide, with a naive French teenager and a sensitive young local who tries to protect her caught dangerously in the middle.

Mahjong

1996

That Day, on the Beach poster
7.5

Two friends who haven't seen each other for thirteen years reunite. One is a successful concert pianist just back from a European tour and the other has just started a new business.

That Day, on the Beach

1983

That Day, on the Beach poster
7.5

Two friends who haven't seen each other for thirteen years reunite. One is a successful concert pianist just back from a European tour and the other has just started a new business.

That Day, on the Beach

1983

In Our Time poster
7.2

Four vignettes, each set in different decades from the 1950s through the 1980s, deal with protagonists at different stages of life between childhood and young adulthood.

In Our Time

1982

In Our Time poster
7.2

Four vignettes, each set in different decades from the 1950s through the 1980s, deal with protagonists at different stages of life between childhood and young adulthood.

In Our Time

1982

Duckweed poster
7.0

A young woman leaves her home and boyfriend in rural Taiwan for Taipei with dreams of entering the entertainment industry and gradually discovers the complicated ramifications of her pursuit. A 2-part TV movie and part of the groundbreaking series "Eleven Women," this is Edward Yang's directorial debut.

Duckweed

1981

Duckweed poster
7.0

A young woman leaves her home and boyfriend in rural Taiwan for Taipei with dreams of entering the entertainment industry and gradually discovers the complicated ramifications of her pursuit. A 2-part TV movie and part of the groundbreaking series "Eleven Women," this is Edward Yang's directorial debut.

Duckweed

1981

Adult Game poster
NR

Direct-to-video music film co-directed by three major figures of the Taiwanese New Cinema featuring song by Edward Yang’s then wife Tsai Chin.

Adult Game

1986

Likely Consequence poster
6.9

Filmed performance of Yang's one-act two-character play which shifts back and forth from comedy to much darker tones as a married couple try to figure out what to do with the body of a man the wife has killed in their kitchen.

Likely Consequence

1992

Likely Consequence poster
6.9

Filmed performance of Yang's one-act two-character play which shifts back and forth from comedy to much darker tones as a married couple try to figure out what to do with the body of a man the wife has killed in their kitchen.

Likely Consequence

1992

The Winter of 1905 poster
NR

Tsui Hark stars as Chinese artist and Buddhist monk Li Shutong, a.k.a. Master Hong Yi. Li travels to Japan to study Western artistic practices, and revolutionizes the teaching of art in China upon his return. Set during the turbulent era of the Russo-Japanese War circa 1905.

The Winter of 1905

1982

Growth Period poster
NR

It portrays the tumultuous life of a middle-class couple and the reshuffling of relationship dynamics when the woman's young assistant and their landlord become involved, presenting urban life as observed by Yang through a multitude of rapid dialogue.

Growth Period

1993

Growth Period poster
NR

It portrays the tumultuous life of a middle-class couple and the reshuffling of relationship dynamics when the woman's young assistant and their landlord become involved, presenting urban life as observed by Yang through a multitude of rapid dialogue.

Growth Period

1993

The Trigger poster
10.0

A professional hit-man is hired to take out a target -- however, his girlfriend’s pregnancy gives him second thoughts. He decides that after this job, he will renounce his profession and turn himself in. This is the first feature film from Taiwanese director Alex Yang, who participated in script-writing and production on Edward Yang's early films. "The Trigger" has echoes of Yang's "Mahjong." The actors in the film, except for veteran Ngai Man-Yin, are all new faces -- unfortunately, Ngai's death in 2005 also made "The Trigger" his last appearance on screen.

The Trigger

2002

No artwork available
NR

A 1997 Mitsubishi commercial directed by Edward Yang, featuring music composed by his widow Kaili Peng.

New Middle Class RV - Fatty Doctor Edition

1997

The Wind poster
8.0

Of the many unrealized projects Yang developed in the wake of Yi Yi, the one that came the closest to fruition was an ambitious animated martial arts movie inspired by his lifelong love of graphic novels and his friendship with Jackie Chan. Though production on The Wind was halted after Yang’s death, this brief assembly of completed scenes offers a glimpse of what might have been. Courtesy of the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute. – Film at Lincoln Center

The Wind

2007