A One And A Two Review

After a 15-year gestation, Edward Yang’s miniature epic finally emerged to take the Best Director prize at last year’s Cannes.

Firmly rooted in the humanist tradition, it’s a gentle study of the way life’s coincidences and circularity can still render it utterly unpredictable.

With his nerve-shattered wife (Jin) away on retreat, N.J., a seemingly stable computer-game boffin (Wu) hits a mid-life crisis that could - at a push - equate with Taiwan’s present economic and political situation.

Plot strands are interwoven with a poet’s precision, yet there’s nothing pretentious about this credible domestic odyssey, which mercifully avoids cinema’s predilection for dysfunction. The performances are also superb, with little Jonathan Chang (as N.J.’s young son) outstanding, most notably during his school show.