The Best of Times
Mei li shi guang
Taiwan, Japan
2001
109 Min
Color
Taiwanese, Mandarin
Synopsis
Chang Tso-Chi’s film begins like a comedy about an extended family but turns into a reflection on the tragedy that befalls cousins Ah Wei and Ah Jie, a funny but troubled youth whose first job puts him in touch with a gun. Family patriarch, Ah Wei’s dad, is goaded by granny about gambling away the family’s money while Ah Jei’s father repetitively recounts his dishonorable discharge from the army decades earlier. The two men spend their evenings getting drunk, suggesting that Ah Wei and Ah Jei’s fates may have been better met young. Tragedy also befalls Ah Wei’s twin sister who suffers from leukemia, but Chang uses expressionistic, slightly comic allegory to end his film on an up note. —Reeling Reviews
Director
Chang Tso-chi
Chang Tso-Chi was born in Jiayi, Taiwan, in 1961. He first majored in electrical engineering and went on to study film and drama at the Chinese Culture University, graduating in 1987. He first worked as a camera assistant and quickly became assistant director to Yu Kan-Pi, Yim Ho and Tsui Hark respectively. He was also Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s first assistant director on A City of Sadness (1988). Chang’s debut film, Ah Chung (1996), used a non-professional cast to demonstrate a special Taiwanese ceremony, Ba Jia Jiang (Eight Generals). This film won the Special Jury Prize at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival and the New Currents Award at the Pusan International Film Festival, winning also the Best Director Award at the Thessalonika International Film Festival, and Grand Prix du Jury and Best Photography at Zhuhai Film Festival, China. Chang’s second feature, Darkness and Light (1999) won the Grand Prix, Tokyo Gold Prize and the Asian Film Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival for Best… read more
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