Director Watch Podcast Ep. 174: 'A Brighter Summer Day' (Edward Yang, 1991) with Special Guest Jesse Nussman

On episode 174 of the Director Watch Podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter are joined by Awards Watch contributor Trace Sauveur and film critic Jesse Nussman to discuss the next film in their Edward Yang series, A Brighter Summer Day (1991). Welcome back to Director Watch! On this AwardsWatch podcast, the boys attempt to breakdown, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema's greatest auteurs. In doing so, they will look at their filmographies, explore what drives them artistically and what makes their decision making process so fascinating. Add in a few silly tangents and a fun game at the end of the episode and you've got yourself a podcast we truly hope you love. In what felt like a massive build up to his point in his career, Edward Yang come out with a methodical, heartbreaking coming of age story that becomes the longest film ever covered on the podcast. This Taiwanese epic is about a group of young boys that have no sense of direction, lawless and forming violent connections that result in a real life tragedy, a perfect cocktail for the director to cover as his country was shifting from its traditions to something more modern, and sadly more sinister. Ryan, Jay, Trace, and Jesse break down their thoughts on the film, the fall of the films protagonist, the rise of violence and anger from the boys as the film goes on, the punishment their decisions had on their family society, and the show learns a valuable lesson; Jay does not like to be surprised, listen to the episode to hear about this. You can listen to the Director Watch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more. You can also listen on the AW YouTube page. This podcast runs 1h50m. The guys will be back later this week to continue their series on the films of Edward Yang with a review of his film, A Confucian Confusion. You can rent it via iTunes and Amazon Prime rental in preparation for the next episode of Director Watch. Till then, let's get into it. Music: MUSICALIFE, from Pond5 (intro) and "B-3" from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).