The film review of A One And A Two.

A one and a two is a masterpiece Chinese art realism drama which is directed by Edward Yang in 2000. It is a movie talks about the meaning of life and death, standing for the life style and people’s mind in 2000s.

This movie use a special way to demonstrate what is life: they use a very normal family in Taipei and describe all family members in the movie, which inspire people to thinking about their whole life. A one and a two do not have dramatic twists in plot design, and it is more like a normal people’s diary about life, family, death, and the way we use to see the world. The characters in the movie are also vivid, NJ is a middle age man who are facing challenges in his work and feel confused; Minmin is the wife of NJ who feel stress in her life and live in the mountain, and she is a classic representative of classic middle age woman; Tingting is a high school student who is in adolescence, and she feels sad about her grandma’s gone; Yangyang is Minmin’s little brother, my favorite character in the movie, he used film camera and took people’s back because he said people cannot see their back, so he took the photos and showed them.

A one and a two clearly reflects the social conditions of 2000s age. Everyone in different age, gender, and conditions have different thinking about life. It is so realistic that is strikes a chord with viewers. I believe audiences of all ages gain distinct thoughts and feelings, each resonating with the film differently.

Furthermore, the cinema language in this movie serves as its indispensable soul. The movie had an aged, DV-like texture. The images are not sharp, yet they deliver a strong sense of authenticity. The camera work is excellent in the movie, the photographer used lots of techniques, such as pan, zoom in tilt, tracking, handheld shot and so on.

The title of the movie is A one and a two, I believe that there are lots of meaning of that. Literally, a one and a two means one by one, and every single person. The film unfolds life stages one after another: new baby, childhood, adolescence, middle age, and death. All intricate worldly troubles boil down to the simplicity of life itself.

A good movie is a good lesson. The world which is full of love, life, and our minds, revolves around us. It teaches me how to face my left life and those challenges in different ages. As A One And A Two said “ I got to live my youth again. I thought things would turn out differently, yet nothing really changed. Suddenly I realize, there is no point living life all over again. This is really an outstanding film that prompts viewers to reflect on what kind of life to live and how to love the world as well as themselves.

by Clara Xu