Rent A Brighter Summer Day (1991)
4.0 of 5 from 107 ratings
3h 56min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Among the most highly praised titles in all contemporary film, this singular masterpiece of Taiwanese cinema, directed by Edward Yang, was unavailable for years and much sought after. Set in the early 1960s, 'A Brighter Summer Day' is based on the true story of a crime that rocked Taiwan. A film of both sprawling scope and tender intimacy, this novelistic, patiently observed epic centers on the gradual but inexorable fall of a young teenager (Chang Chen, in his first role) from innocence to delinquency, and is set against a simmering backdrop of restless youth, rock and roll, and political turmoil.
- Actors:
- Chen Chang, Lisa Yang, Kuo-Chu Chang, Elaine Jin, Chuan Wang, Han Chang, Hsiu-Chiung Chiang, Stephanie Lai, Chi-tsan Wang, Lawrence Ko, Chih-Kang Tan, Ming-Hsin Chang, Chun-Lung Jung, Hui-Kuo Chou, Ching-Chi Liu, Ching-Hsiang Ho, Chang-Ta Tsai, Tsung-Ming Lee, Hsiao-Tsui Tang, Ming-Ying Chiang
- Directors:
- Edward Yang
- Producers:
- Wei-Yen Yu
- Writers:
- Hung Hung, Mingtang Lai, Alex Yang, Edward Yang
- Aka:
- Gu ling jie shao nian sha ren shi jian
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama, Romance
- Countries:
- Taiwan
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 03/07/2017
- Run Time:
- 236 minutes
- Languages:
- Mandarin LPCM Mono, Taiwanese LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.85:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- New Audio Commentary Featuring Critic Tony Rayns
- New Interview with Actor Chang Chen
- Our Time, Our Story, a 113-minute documentary from 2002 about the New Taiwan Cinema movement, featuring interviews with filmmakers Hou Hsiao-hsien, Sylvia Chang, and Tsai Ming-liang, among others
- Videotaped 1992 Performance of Yang's Play 'Likely Consequence'
- An Essay by Critic Godfrey Cheshire and a 1991 Director's Statement by Yang
- Disc 1:
- This disc includes the main feature
- Disc 2:
- This disc includes special features
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Reviews (2) of A Brighter Summer Day
Up there with the very best! - A Brighter Summer Day review by TE
This is one of the great films of world cinema. It appears regularly in the various top 100 films of all time lists, though the same director's other major masterpiece, 'Yi Yi: a One and a Two' appears higher up those lists. And these accolades are thoroughly deserved.
If I could I would give it more than 5 stars (partly to balance out the crass review by RD already on here!).
Don't be put off by the epic length, this is an absorbing story that takes in complex family dynamics, teenage psychosis, political displacement and many subtle shades of power abuse.
The extra dimension that Edward Yang brings to these subjects is empathy and a humane warmth. I recommend 'A One and a Two' as a better starting point for an acquaintance with Yang's work, but 'A Brighter Summer Day' (the title is a quotation from an Elvis Presley song) is also a timeless classic.
3 out of 3 members found this review helpful.
Not much happens - A Brighter Summer Day review by RD
- at least in the first 90 minutes, which is how long we lasted until we baled out. I had nodded off several times whilst waiting for some sort of storyline or meaning to appear, but apart from a few gang related arguments and a budding romance that never got going, there was nothing detectable as a plot to keep our interest. Nicely shot with some good cinematography, but nothing in the storyline department. Some shouting.
The sleeve says it's 236 minutes long - phew! Maybe something comes along between 90 and 236 minutes I will never know, but if it hasn't got going by 90 minutes then it's back in the envelope and on to more worthwhile pastimes.
0 out of 4 members found this review helpful.