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Taipei Story

Taipei Story

1985
1h 59m
Lung, a former member of the national Little League team and now operator of an old-style fabric business, is never able to shake a longing for his past glory. One day, he runs into a forme teammate who is now a struggling cab driver. The two talk about old times and they are struck by a sense of loss. Lung is living with his old childhood sweetheart Ah-chin, a westernized professional woman who grew up in a traditional family. (imdb)
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Taipei Story

1985
1h 59m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 69.19% from 261 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(261)
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Rated 10 Jan 2020
70
71st
Effectively depicts a generation caught between tradition and progress, drawing on the dead knowledge of past experience misaligned with the present day, resulting in alienation and stasis. Yang directs with confidence and uses silence and space to really highlight the disconnect of his characters in a subtle and interesting way, but he can't fully escape the limitations of this post-Antonionian urban style, although he avoids bleak chic because it's clear where his sympathies lie.
Rated 26 Mar 2012
72
32nd
One of those films where I can appreciate the things it does and even the way it does them, but it just fails to resonate with me. This isn't the most marvelously shot film but there is care taken in the way shots are constructed and the atmosphere fits the alienation of the characters very well. The character arcs are pretty easy to follow and well fleshed out. All the elements are there and I can see others loving it but it's a bit too plain and detached for me.
Rated 14 Sep 2017
5
80th
I am fascinated how Yang (certainly with help from his Thai New Wave compatriots right now, but this fits his later, more known work) will so delicately and subtly develop characters around these films.
Rated 31 May 2021
84
88th
Attains incredible beauty and nuance, but at times (mostly the middle) feels like its caught between a relationship made for metaphorical statements and a relationship made for drama.
Rated 30 Dec 2021
91
90th
Powerful ending. Only in the waning moments did it occur to me that this is a story about identity. Ironic how obscured this is by the beautiful images of its emotionally-confused characters, under-exposed in the equal parts decaying and neon-drenched Taipei. I did find the middle to drag quite a bit, so I'd have to rate this less than The Terrorizers or his other better known works. There are still many moments and scenes that are characteristically Yang's aesthetic, which is to be cherished.
Rated 02 Mar 2008
60
36th
# 794
Rated 12 Feb 2018
87
64th
It's Ed Yang, so it's pretty great but I think this is weaker Yang overall. Too much of a "critique" and not enough... romance maybe? Romanticism perhaps? Basically, I would have preferred more Mahjong and less The Terrorizers.
Rated 21 Feb 2019
60
39th
Ultimately boring yet surprisingly charming.
Rated 20 Apr 2019
4
70th
Yang had an unsurpassed gift for raising the quotidian dramas of everyday living to the level of poetry (though terribly unfettered poetry, at that).
Rated 03 Jul 2019
85
94th
think there is something to be said about how a story about a time and place so removed from me can make me feel like i understand it so well- so concisely.
Rated 05 Oct 2019
85
92nd
So elegantly shot and narrated. A true heartbreaking story about identities and lives in transit, as characters reflect on staying or leaving (to US), loving or moving on.
Rated 27 Jul 2022
75
56th
Very solid, downbeat drama with interesting, deep characters, including Lung, who peaked at 12 when his team won the Little League World Series, and Chin, who has lost her job. Both are floundering a bit to try to find their identities. Lung can't escape the past. The pivotal conversation near the end, filmed in the dark with only silhouettes, was an interesting choice from a filmmaking perspective. I didn't like it nearly as much as Yi Yi, though, which is the other Yang I've seen to date.
Rated 23 Oct 2022
75
74th
Edward Yang always able to create a very original cinematic language. There, you can feel the characters, their relationships and the city. Still, there are moments in this film where the pace does not feel right, like it does not belong to it. Maybe it's because the cities move so fast while our lives (and also the characters' lives) don't. I don't know.
Rated 08 Nov 2022
73
29th
Despite having strong themes and gorgeous visuals I struggled to connect with this one. It’s colder than Yang’s other films, which probably didn’t help, but I wasn’t able to connect to the characters like I wanted.

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