This 1985 film depicts the turmoil of two middle class Taiwanese twentysomethings at the margins of Taiwan’s 1980s deindustrialization and diaspora. The rapid socio-economic changes over the previous 20 years have made the country prosperous but have hollowed out its identity. Traditional values are being supplanted by materialism and a once patriarchal society is transitioning to one where business connections determine power.

Lung and Chin’s disaffected relationship at the center of the film works as a synecdoche for each of these changes. Lung and Chin (Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Tsai Chin) were once high school sweethearts who had planned to get married and embark on a successful life together. As they are confronted by the realities of the modern economy, indecision and misfortune cools the romance irreparably. At the start of the film, Lung returns from L.A. in a deep solitude after seeing his dim career prospects abroad. He returns to a depressed Chin, herself struck by misfortune after her boss and mentor sells her company, thus derailing Chin’s career. Lung and Chin spend the majority of the film wandering aimlessly through the metropolis of Taipei.

Director Edward Yang and his creative team present this alienation with a potent fatalism. To reject the change in society is to be erased; to embrace the change is to relinquish who you are. Such is the fate of Lung and Chin.

There is an almost punk-rock frustration latent in the dichotomy Yang and Co. have set up. The film is stylish and cool, but in its self-absorption it fails to see any sort of middle path towards the future. Having seen the wider humanism and hopefulness Yang emits in his later masterwork, Yi Yi (2000), it appears Yang will develop out of this mentality.

Nevertheless, this film is a valuable snapshot of the anxieties of the time and the sophisticated cinematography anticipates Yang’s later achievements. Yang’s prowess at utilizing space and glass to convey emotional states is particularly impressive.