The Prince Charles Cinema

A Brighter Summer Day

  • 1991
  • 237mins
  • Taiwan
  • (15)
  • Film
Directed by Edward Yang Starring Chang Chen, Lisa Yang, Elaine Jin, Chang Kuo-Chu, Wang Chuan, Chang Han

Among the most praised and sought-after titles in all contemporary film, this singular masterpiece of Taiwanese cinema, directed by Edward Yang is finally available for US audiences. Set in the early sixties in Taiwan, A Brighter Summer Day is based on the true story of a crime that rocked the nation. A film of both sprawling scope and tender intimacy, this novelistic, patiently observed epic centers on the gradual, inexorable fall of a young teenager (Chen Chang, in his first role) from innocence to juvenile delinquency, and is set against a simmering backdrop of restless youth, rock and roll, and political turmoil.

Thursday 14th November