MAHJONG
“Yang's angriest and most provocative film, and also probably the one that's elicited the most anger from viewers, especially in the West.” - Chicago Reader
Consisting of seemingly disparate story strands that miraculously converge into one, Mahjong focuses on some middle-class thugs dabbling in crime who find themselves entangled in Taiwan's underworld. The cast is an international one, including French star Virginie Ledoyen, deliberately reflecting the ‘little-big' cosmopolitan nature of modern-day Taipei.
As the characters crash and careen through Mahjong it takes on the dimensions of a screwball comedy, although Yang's darker vision - of a disenfranchised generation struggling for meaning - persistently seeps through the maelstrom.
“Comic and horrifying, poignant and biting, Mahjong is a vision of hell that argues passionately for the possibility of redemption.” - Cinematheque Ontario
D/S Edward Yang P Wei-yen Yu WS Kailidoscope L English, Mandarin, French w/English subtitles TD 35mm/1996/121mins