50% OFF! Hot items selling fast—Grab them before they're gone!
In this pair of sharp, sprawling satires, one of Taiwans most celebrated filmmakers, Edward Yang, captures the anything-can-happen mood of Taipei at the end of the twentieth century. Made in between his epic dramasA Brighter Summer DayandYi Yi, A Confucian ConfusionandMahjongfind Yang applying a lighter but no less masterly touch to his explorations of human relationships in an increasingly globalized, hypercapitalistic world. These intricately constructed ensemble comediesone set in a cutthroat corporate milieu, the other in a shady criminal underworldreveal the absurdity and cynicism at the heart of modern urban life.
Edward Yangs first foray into comedy may have been a surprising stylistic departure, but in its richly novelistic vision of urban discontent, it is quintessential Yang. This relationship roundelay centers on a coterie of young Taipei professionals whose paths converge at an entertainment company where the boundaries between art and commerce, love and business, have become hopelessly blurred. Evoking the chaos of a city infiltrated by Western chains, logos, and attitudes,A Confucian Confusionis an incisive reflection on the role of traditional values in a materialistic, amoral society.
Edward Yangs follow-up toA Confucian Confusionis another dizzying comedy set in a globalized Taipei, but with a darker, more caustic edge. Amid a rapidly changing cityscape, the lives of a disparate group of swindlers, hustlers, gangsters, and expats collide, with a naive French teenager (Virginie Ledoyen) and a sensitive young local (Lawrence Ko) who tries to protect her caught dangerously in the middle. By turns brutal, shocking, tender, and bitingly funny,Mahjongis a dazzling vision of a multicultural Taipei where nearly every relationship has a price and newfound prosperity comes at the expense of the human soul.