Metrograph

A sprawling and intimate evocation of the Taiwan of Yang’s teenage years: the outset of the 1960s, a period defined by street gang activity, the political repression of the Kuomintang military government, and the ubiquity of American pop culture. A Brighter Summer Day takes its inspiration from the story of the country’s first juvenile homicide, with Chang Chen’s brooding outsider just one figure in Yang’s bustling tapestry, regarded in seemingly serene long takes that bristle with repressed emotion.

A Brighter Summer Day was restored in 2009 by the Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project, the Central Motion Picture Corporation, and the Edward Yang Estate. Scan performed at Digimax laboratories in Taipei. Restoration funded by Armani, Cartier, Qatar Airways, and Qatar Museum Authority.

Distributor: Janus Films