Recently, I came across an account that does a great job discussing Edward Yang's films:

Light & Shadow Café A Bite of Light.
Edward Yang is my favorite director because his movies are hardly like movies at all, more like portrayals of how modern people gradually lose each other amidst relationships, desires, misunderstandings, and the collapse of order.
I remember the first time I watched his films many years ago—not with shock or emotion, but with a feeling of suffocation in my heart, as if something had hit me a few times inside, and those hits felt incredibly real.
What is Edward Yang doing?
He’s telling us all that people don’t suddenly turn bad, and society doesn’t suddenly fall apart. Everything slowly deteriorates through countless misunderstandings, avoidance, self-packaging, and structural failures.
Last night, with some free time, I rewatched "A Brighter Summer Day" and "Terrorists," accompanied by some commentary, and each time I watch, I understand a little more:
1｜Fate
Many people feel cold when they first watch Edward Yang’s films.
But his coldness isn’t aloof; it’s a very clear-eyed compassion.
He doesn’t cry for the characters, doesn’t cry injustice for them, and isn’t in a rush to give answers. Instead, he shows you that sense of fate right from the start through the camera.
2｜Failure
The most terrifying thing in Edward Yang’s films isn’t the villains, but failure.
A home that doesn’t feel like a home, love that doesn’t feel like love, ideals that don’t feel like ideals, systems that don’t feel like systems—everyone seems to be desperately trying to escape, yet they’re trapped by the inescapable fate of their circumstances.
What you think is not what I think;
What I think is not what you think;
Everyone is expressing themselves, but no one is truly understood.
For example, in "A Brighter Summer Day," Xiao Si’s problems aren’t just personality issues.
Behind him is a whole system failing: family, school, peers, the era, identity—everything is breaking down,
but those caught in it don’t really feel the system; they just think they’re unlucky or that others have wronged them.
Another example is Xiao Ming. She’s not just the “beauty causing trouble” that many say she is.
She’s more like someone who, in a turbulent era, knew early on what reality was like.
Her wavering, hesitation, and self-protection are actually a way of survival.
So in the end, you realize that the ones who commit murder aren’t just teenagers—they symbolize the chaos, repression, false order, and collective silence of an era.
3｜Loss
In "Terrorists," Li Liqun’s character has a particularly strong feeling: a sense of loss.
Everyone seems to be living their own lives. They live under the same roof, but appear disconnected.
While everyone is performing their roles, they’re subtly entering others’ destinies through desires, lies, chance, imagination, and projection.
No one truly knows what they want.
This theme continues in "Mahjong," where it’s clear that no one in this world really knows what they want.
A phone call, a sentence, a thought—these can change someone’s life trajectory.
So the real “terror” in "Terrorists" isn’t violence, but the invisible yet constant influence and harm between people in modern cities.
And many of these harms aren’t even intentional.
4｜Conclusion:
I’ve always believed that Edward Yang’s greatest strength is that he understood one thing:
Many tragedies don’t come from a single bad person but from systemic disconnection.
Disconnection within families and with children, disconnection in love and understanding, disconnection in language and authenticity, disconnection between desire and responsibility—
the rapid development of modern society and the pace of inner maturity are also disconnected.
The final result is that everyone seems to have done nothing wrong, yet things gradually lead to tragedy.
Ask yourself:
Have we truly seen this world clearly?
Have we truly understood ourselves?
Sometimes, I think these two questions might be even scarier than the films themselves.
By the way, the commentary creator I mentioned, Light & Shadow Café A Bite of Light, has videos available on Bilibili and other platforms. They do an excellent job discussing Edward Yang’s work. I highly recommend watching them or even watching the original films—both are fantastic.