A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY (GULING JIE SHAONIAN SHA REN SHIJIAN) Asian Cinema

Edward Yang’s long-awaited fourth feature is a picture of Taiwan in 1960-61, caught between the pull of mainland China and the lure of the U.S., the Utopian land where Elvis Presley sings of a “brighter summer day” It’s also a Taiwan of Communist-spy scares, where kids from Mainland families have formed street gangs to assert their identity Yang locates this touching story of teenagers in two such gangs at the heart of a vast fresco crowded with warmth, humour, violence and a wealth of intimate detail. For once, “masterpiece” seems the appropriate word. -Tony Rayns, Berlin Fi Im Festival