A Brighter Summer Day Movie Review

A Brighter Summer Day [Guling jie shaonian sharen shijian] (1991)

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Written by: Edward Yang, Alex Yang, Mingtang Lai, Hung Hung (script and dialogue)
Directed by: Edward Yang
Starring: Chang Chen, Lisa Yang, Chang Kuo-Chu, Elaine Jin
Rated: NR [R]
Watch the trailer

Plot
This Taiwanese film is based on a true story and set in the 1960s where a boy from a middle-class home veers into juvenile delinquency. 

Verdict
I can't relate to the cultural context, which is critical, creating a barrier to my understanding the movie. This is based on a true story. Families fled a violent situation en masse with children reacting violently to an unstable environment. Even if they don't fully understand why, they reflect the world in which they live. The history is important and the psychology intriguing, but it's a movie that continues long after the point is made. I like the concept much more than I like the actual movie, though my lack of familiarity is certainly a contributor. This is a movie for a film or history class.
Skip it.

Review
Chinese fled to Taiwan when communists defeated the government. The instability in the new country which became home led to kids forming street gangs in an effort to control their circumstances.

Chang Chen, Lisa Yang play Si'r, Ming

Junior high student Si'r (Chang Chen) ends up in night school when he does poorly in school. That's where all the trouble makers are, which makes sense. The other kids are only a bad influence. The culture of this is important, though I can't really relate.

This is a psychological story about what happens to kids in an unstable environment. They're aware of the world, even if only in part, and it causes them to react. Being children, their responses are ill formed and simplistic. One of these kids attacks a teacher with a baseball bat.

Si'r befriends Ming. Instead of escorting her to class, they sneak into a nearby movie studio. He's confronted by a rival group of boys about hanging out with her. His friends break a chair, readying the leg for a blunt instrument if things go bad. Luckily Ma intervenes, notorious for stabbing a kid. This is a glimpse into the history of Taiwan. It's a tough world, where these kids are attacking each other and bragging about it. They reflect the instability of the world. Each transgression escalates. The kids must retaliate to avoid appearing weak.

Chang Kuo-chu, Chang Chen play Si'r's father, Si'r

Si'r is caught in the middle of it. He doesn't want to fight, but he has no choice. If he doesn't follow the lead of the other children, he risks being outcast. That very well could apply to the other kids. All of them follow the worst example so that they don't feel left out.

In a parallel story, Si'r's dad is taken into custody and questioned about his connections to China. He's released but demoted. When everyone lives in fear children feel it even if they don't realize it. That's why you get places like this. To deal with those stresses and normalize the conflict, children become aggressive.

This does begin to drag. It establishes what this life is like and how it affects everyone, children and adults. The stress undermines everyone, but I wondered what was next. This ends tragically, Si'r emblematic of the stress boiling over.