Curent Project: Krzysztof Kieslowski

As I wrote yesterday, I’ll soon begin a new project focusing on the 1976 film “Network,” directed by Sidney Lumet and written by three-time Oscar winner Paddy Chayefsky. It might be a week or two before this project begins, I need to clear up the backlog of projects that

Today I wrapped up my series on “Yi Yi,” which took more than a month to complete. I’ll be publishing an ebook on “Yi Yi” right away, so read the free essays while you can, they’ll likely be gone by next week. I will then spend some time

As “Yi Yi” reaches its final chapter, we end as we began, at a large family gathering. This time everyone dressed in black. People congregate in small groups. We see conversations at the same discreet distance we’ve watched most of the film. Min-Min pours tea for a group of

The most difficult task in bringing “Yi Yi” in for a landing is reconciling NJ and Min-Min. This is especially tricky because Min-Min left after her big, dramatic scene and has been absent since. It’s also challenging because the characters didn’t leave on bad terms, just disconnected ones.

Edward Yang’s third film “Terrorizers” had a stunning final act which consisted of two different endings for a character at the end of his rope. In interviews, Yang often said that both endings of “Terrorizers” are true, which isn’t a factual statement but an emotional one. It’s

I wrote a couple essays back that the rest of the film belongs to Yang-Yang, but that was getting a bit ahead of myself … these next two segments are mostly about Ting-Ting. In fact, they are the most typically dramatic elements of the film. It’s interesting that “Yi Yi”