"A Brighter Summer Day" sets out as a coming of age modern tale of youthful rebellion involving two sets of schoolboy street gangs - that is, the 217 Village Gang and the Little Park Gang - in early 1960s Taiwan. The central character is a kid named Si'r (Chen Chang) from the Little Park Gang. Si'r and his love affair with Ming (Lisa Yang) starts a chain of events that eventually leads to violence and murder. The restless and wild behaviour of the schoolboys cause turmoil in the adult world. The film slowly morphs from being a gangland drama into a nuanced portrait of a family in transition, struggling to adapt and survive in a new country after fleeing red China. This film is worth each minute...
