Dan Conley’s Writing Projects

We’ve reached the part of “Yi Yi” where one scene after another is memorable and striking, so I should probably put the superlatives aside for a bit — just assume that these are all essential segments of the movie until notified otherwise. NJ returns from that energizing night out — one

We now come to one of the most famous sections in “Yi Yi,” when NJ takes Mr. Ota, the Japanese game developer, out for a night on Taipei. It begins at a restaurant, where NJ tries to sell the company line — that they liked his proposal, but it was fairly

The scene opens in the hallway of the apartment building. The nurse looking after grandmother gets off the elevator and prepares to take out her key. We see Ting-Ting rushing to the door to open it for her — kind, but unnecessary. She has been in Lili’s apartment next door

Ting-Ting’s problems sleeping are now illustrated by a classroom lecture where she has fallen asleep. All of the girls in class have potted plants on their desks and the teacher is taking about how, if you feed and nurture the plants too much, they won’t grow. She spins

This segment is devoted entirely to the grandmother. She is brought home from the hospital and nurses give Min-Min some instructions about keeping her comfortable. A male nurse also suggests talking to her, saying that she can hear them, so it’s helpful to her progress. But right before he

Here is where “Yi Yi” starts to reveal itself as a special film — not through plot or a big dramatic scene, but by laying details on top of one another, bits of commentary and storytelling that can be missed without close attention. When Kieslowski noted the similarities to Edward Yang’