That Day, on the Beach

Yang’s first theatrical feature film (which also marked the debut of the cinematographer Christopher Doyle) is a visually and emotionally arresting melodrama of fractured romance, disaffection, and the intergenerational breakdown felt across Taiwan in the 1980s. It focuses on the reunion of two old friends—Chia-li (Sylvia Chang), a housewife trapped in a crumbling marriage, and Ching-ching (Terry Wu), a concert pianist newly returned to Taiwan after many years abroad. As they reminisce about their 13 years apart, Yang moves gracefully from past to present and between perspectives to reflect on his two protagonists’ present stations in life. An intricate memory piece that unfolds with the pacing of a mystery, That Day, on the Beach is one of the greatest debuts of the late 20th century and announced Yang as an artist already in full command of densely layered, compositional storytelling. 2K restoration courtesy of the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute.