A Confucian Confusion

Edward Yang moved from existential angst to sharp-eyed wit in this biting satire on the material dreams of the Taiwanese nouveau riche. A group of twenty-something Taipei yuppies prefers cash value over Confucian values, unless the latter can also be monetized. Everyone’s living their dream (or at least society’s new capitalist dream), yet no one—from the harried ad execs to the businesspeople to the failed creatives—seems that happy about it. Viewed three decades from its making, A Confucian Confusion is both a fascinating snapshot of the Taiwanese boom of the mid-1990s and a still timely takedown of the seemingly eternal chase for material riches.