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Mahjong
Edward Yang's angriest film (1996) follows various gangsters, hustlers, jet-setters, and western expatriates in contemporary Taipei, focusing in particular on the disappearance of a tycoon who owes $100 million to the local mob and his grown son, who wants to find him. A high-energy mosaic about the way we live, especially during economic boom conditions, with as much emphasis on sexual behavior as on business tensions, this builds to a climax of shocking violence before resolving itself into a poignant love story; the emotional and generic gear changes are part of what's so exciting and reckless about it. In some ways it's a loose remake of Yang's previous feature, A Confucian Confusion, but it succeeds even more in capturing the tenor of our times. |
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