Quest Status: 750 / 1000
TSPDT Rank #124
I've been watching a lot of long films recently, so I was a little wary of A Brighter Summer Day's four-hour length. I'm sure that distributors were afraid of the same thing when they neglected to give this film appropriate distribution back in 1991. But make no mistake, if you're still on the fence about watching this film, don't be. It's the rare instance of a film that I instantly know on first viewing is a MASTERPIECE.
It's hard to put the beauty of A Brighter Summer Day into words. Yes, the cinematography is staggering. Every shot in this film, even the simple ones, are exquisite works of art. They convey a poignant sense of time and place, not to mention humanity. And what's it about? Well, the Chinese title alludes to a real-life murder that occurred in 1961 Taipei. It's a teen drama that deals with romance in the awkward and overly serious way that teenagers do. It's a family story that covers the relationships between husband and wife, father and son, brother and sister, and even neighbors and friends without a moment of heavy-handedness. It's a warm, breezy epic with occasional bursts of violence that could rival any Martin Scorsese gangster film. In other words, it's pretty hard to categorize. Which is why A Brighter Summer Day, even after Criterion's shimmering HD restoration, will forever remain in the domain of cinephiles who don't need their movies neatly packaged and labeled.
P.S. I'm 75% finished with the quest now!
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