A Brighter Summer Day

A Brighter Summer Day Chinese G lng ji shonin shrn shjin, The Murder Incident of the Boy on Guling Street is a 1991 Taiwanese drama film directed by Edward Yang. The film is an extraordinarily large project for a Chineselanguage film, not only for its duration of almost four hours, but also for its involvement of more than 100 amateur actors in different roles. The title is derived from the lyrics of Elvis Presleys Are You Lonesome Tonight?. The film was selected as the Taiwanese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 64th Academy Awards but was not nominated.

Set in early 1960s, in Taipei, the film is based on a real incident that the director remembers from his school days when he was 13. The original Chinese title, , translates literally as The Murder Incident of the Boy on Guling Street, referring to the 14yearold son of a civil servant who murders his girlfriend, who was also involved with a teenaged gang leader, for unclear reasons. The gang leader and girlfriend are involved in the conflict between gangs of children of formerlymainland families and those of Taiwanese families. The film places the murder incident in the context of the political environment in Taiwan at that time. The films political background is introduced in intertitles thusMillions of Mainland Chinese fled to Taiwan with the National Government after its civil war defeat by the Chinese Communists in 1949. Their children were brought up in an uneasy atmosphere created by the parents own uncertainty about the future. Many formed street gangs to search for identity and to strengthen their sense of security. ........

Source: Wikipedia