That Day, on the Beach

A film of epic scope, That Day, on the Beach had an enormous impact in Taiwan. Its narrative scale, multiple intersecting stories, and self-reflexive mode marked the film as something entirely new for Chinese cinema. A focus on the emotional lives of two women, and their implicit rejection of patriarchal dominance, was considered taboo-breaking. In the framing story, Tan, a concert pianist living abroad, is contacted in Vienna by her old friend Lin (the superb Sylvia Chang), now a successful businesswoman, and the two get together to talk over old times. Seamless flashbacks reveal the histories of both friends. . . . Identity and values are the underlying themes, shifting in time as experience molds each woman in her journey of self-discovery. Cinematography by Christopher Doyle gives the film a dreamy beauty.