Yi Yi (Chinese: 一一; pinyin: Yī Yī; lit. "one one"; subtitled A One and a Two) is a 2000 Taiwanese drama film written and directed by Edward Yang. The story focuses on the challenges faced by an engineer named NJ (played by Wu Nien-jen) and three generations of his middle-class Taiwanese family in Taipei.

The film’s title means "one by one" or "one after another." When the characters for "one" are written vertically, they look similar to the character for "two": 二.

Yi Yi was first shown on May 14, 2000, at the 53rd Cannes Film Festival, where Edward Yang received the Best Director Award. The film has been widely praised and is often considered one of the greatest films of the 21st century.

Plot

The Jian family, which includes father NJ, mother Min-Min, daughter Ting-Ting, and son Yang-Yang, lives in Taipei. At the wedding of Min-Min's younger brother A-Di, NJ meets his former girlfriend Sherry, who gives him her phone number before leaving. Sherry is married to an American and lives in Chicago. After the wedding, Min-Min's mother, who lives with the family, has a stroke and falls into a coma. She is placed on life support, and doctors ask the Jians to speak to her every day.

NJ is unhappy with his job, and his company is having financial problems. To win a client named Mr. Ota, NJ's coworkers ask him to take Ota to dinner, which he agrees to reluctantly. They get along well, and NJ takes Ota to a bar where Ota sings and plays the piano. That night, NJ calls Sherry and apologizes for leaving her suddenly 30 years ago. Meanwhile, Min-Min becomes sad because of her mother's condition and goes to a remote Buddhist retreat.

After a failed investment, A-Di is forced to leave the family home and asks his ex-girlfriend Yun-Yun for help. A-Di is allowed to return after his child is born, but a fight happens at the baby shower when Yun-Yun arrives uninvited. A-Di and his wife reconcile after she finds out he passed out due to a gas leak at their home.

Ting-Ting feels guilty because her grandmother collapsed while doing a task Ting-Ting was supposed to complete. She befriends her neighbor, Lili. After Lili ends her relationship with Fatty, he starts giving Lili letters through Ting-Ting. Fatty becomes interested in Ting-Ting and asks her out. After their second date, the two stay in a hotel room but leave without sleeping together. Later, Ting-Ting sees Lili back with Fatty and is later scolded by Fatty. Ting-Ting becomes sad and talks to her grandmother, asking her to wake up. The next day, she learns that Fatty has been arrested for killing Lili's teacher, who was in a relationship with both Lili and her mother. At home, Ting-Ting dreams of being comforted by her grandmother.

Yang-Yang avoids speaking to his grandmother because he believes she cannot hear him. He starts taking photographs. To punish him for leaving school to buy film, Yang-Yang is made to stand against a wall while his teacher shares his photos with classmates. Later, after seeing the girl who bullies him (because she likes him) swimming, Yang-Yang teaches himself to swim to learn more about her.

NJ is sent by his company to Tokyo to continue meetings with Ota. Sherry also travels to Japan. The two meet again and talk about their past. Sherry is still hurt by NJ's sudden departure, and NJ tries to fix their problems. They visit another city and stay in a hotel, but when NJ refuses Sherry's request to start a new life together, Sherry criticizes him and cries. They return to Tokyo and go back to their separate rooms. Before leaving, NJ tells Sherry that he has never loved anyone else. The next day, NJ is told by a coworker that his company has made a deal with another client and he must return to Taipei immediately. He scolds his coworker for abandoning Ota. Later, NJ checks on Sherry's room and learns she has already left.

After Min-Min's mother dies, Min-Min returns home and reunites with her family. At the funeral, NJ's coworker asks him to return to work, but he refuses. In front of her mother's shrine, Yang-Yang recites a personal message. He shares memories of his grandmother, his hope to find where she went, and his wish to "tell people what they don't know, show them what they can't see." He ends his poem by saying his newborn cousin reminds him of his grandmother, who always said, "I am old too," just as he now wants to say.

Cast

• Actor: Wu Nien-jen, Character: NJ
• Actor: Elaine Jin, Character: Min-Min
• Actor: Kelly Lee, Character: Ting-Ting
• Actor: Jonathan Chang, Character: Yang-Yang
• Actor: Issey Ogata, Character: Mr. Ota
• Actor: Chen Hsi-Sheng, Character: A-Di
• Actor: Su-Yun Ko, Character: Sherry
• Actor: Chang Yu Pang, Character: Fatty

Production and casting

The movie Yi Yi was filmed from April 8 to August 21, 1999. The original script written by Yang included children who were 10 and 15 years old. However, Yang later cast Jonathan Chang and Kelly Lee, who were first-time actors. At the start of filming, Jonathan and Kelly were 8 and 13 years old. Yang adjusted the script to match their actual ages.

Reception

The movie Yi Yi received high praise from critics. On the website Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 97% approval rating based on 91 reviews. The site’s summary says the film "accurately and expertly captures the themes and details, as well as the beauty, of everyday life" through the story of one family. On Metacritic, which calculates scores using a weighted average, the film has a score of 94 out of 100 based on 25 reviews.

A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote that after watching Yi Yi, he felt a mix of emotions, including grief, joy, and gratitude. Kenneth Turan of The Los Angeles Times described the film as "delicate but strong," noting its ability to show both happiness and sadness. J. Hoberman of The Village Voice called it a "lucid, elegant, nuanced, humorous melodrama" and praised the director, Edward Yang, for handling complex family stories with care. David Denby of The New Yorker said the film’s calm storytelling made each scene feel important.

After premiering at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, Yi Yi won many awards. It received the Best Director award at Cannes and was nominated for the Palme d’Or. It also won the Netpac Award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for its portrayal of cultural and generational challenges in Taiwan. The film earned the Chief Dan George Humanitarian Award at the Vancouver International Film Festival and tied with Topsy-Turvy for the 2000 Sarajevo Film Festival’s Panorama Jury Award.

In 2001, Yi Yi won Best Foreign Film from the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics and the Grand Prix at the Fribourg International Film Festival in Switzerland. It also received Best Foreign Film from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association in 2000 and Best Film from the National Society of Film Critics in 2001, where Edward Yang was also honored for directing. The film won Best Foreign Language Film from the New York Film Critics Circle in 2000. It was nominated for the Grand Prix of the Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics and received awards such as "Best Film – China/Taiwan" and "Best Director" from the 2002 Chinese Film Media Awards.

Many publications named Yi Yi one of the best films of 2001, including The New York Times, Newsweek, USA Today, and The Village Voice. A. O. Scott, Susan Sontag, and other critics called it "Best Film of the Year" in 2000.

The film was also recognized by awards groups, including the Boston Society of Film Critics, where it placed second in categories like Best Director, Best Film, and Best Foreign Language Film. It was nominated for awards such as the Best Non-American Film at the 2003 Bodil Awards and the Best Foreign Language Film at the Chicago Film Critics Association.

In 2002, the British film magazine Sight & Sound listed Yi Yi as one of the ten greatest films of the past 25 years. In 2009, it placed third in polls ranking "The Best Film of the Decade" alongside La Commune (Paris, 1871) and Zodiac. In 2012, Sight & Sound gave it 20 votes, and in 2016, the BBC ranked it the eighth-greatest film of the 21st century. In 2019, The Guardian listed Yi Yi as the 26th best film of the 21st century.

In June 2025, The New York Times ranked Yi Yi 40th on its list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century" and 69th on the "Readers’ Choice" list. In July 2025, Rolling Stone ranked it eighth on its list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century."

Home media

The film is available on The Criterion Collection. It includes a newly restored version of the movie and a high-quality sound format called DTS-HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray version. There is also commentary by the director and film critic Tony Rayns.

In September 2025, Janus Films released a new high-quality version of the film for showing in movie theaters. The Criterion Collection made this new version available to the public in January 2026.

Soundtrack

The piano music in the movie Yi Yi is mostly played by Kaili Peng, who is the wife of the film's director, Yang. The pieces include Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and J. S. Bach's Toccata in E minor (BWV 914). In the film, Peng briefly appears as a cellist, performing Beethoven's Cello Sonata No. 1. Her husband plays the piano during this scene, pretending to be a pianist.