Gu ling jie shao nian sha ren shi jian / A Brighter Summer Day

TW 1991. D: Edward Yang. SC: Edward Yang, Yan Hangya, Yang Shunqing, Lai Mingtang; ED: Chen Bowen; DP: Zhang Huigong, Li Longyu; DP: Yu Weiyan, Edward Yang; CAST: Zhang Zhen (Xiao Si’r), Lisa Yang (Ming), Zhang Guozhu (Zhang Ju), Elaine Jin (Mrs Zhang), Wang Juan (la sorella maggiore), Ke Yulun, Tan Zhigang (Ma); PC: Yang and His Gang Filmmakers; 35 mm. 237’ Col. Mandarin and Taiwanese version with English subtitles From: Central Motion Picture Corporation. Restored in 2009 by the World Cinema Foundation at Cineteca di Bologna - L’Immagine Ritrovata Laboratory, Central Motion Pictures Corporation and Digimax laboratory in Taipei, from the original 35mm camera and sound negatives provided by the Edward Yang Estate and preserved at the Central Motion Pictures Corporation. Due to the deterioration of the original camera n[... text missing from the programme catalogue]. - Presenta Pierre Rissient. Viewed at Cinema Arlecchino, Bologna, 2 July 2009. - An impressive restoration, albeit via digital intermediate. - I watched the first two hours of the four-hour story. - It is a story of youth in Taipei, growing up, building gangs, forming a new kind of identity in the Taiwan cut off from mainland China, under the influence of American popular culture. - The tempo is slow, and I understand that there is a cumulative power for the one who watches the whole four hours. Due to festival fatigue I did not manage it this time.