Conducted every 10 years, the Sight & Sound Best Movies of All Time poll is voted on by film critics, writers, professors and other experts in the field of cinema. A concurrent poll is open only to directors, and their results often vary wildly from the main poll. The Cosford Cinema will be showcasing ten selections from the filmmakers’ list every Sunday over the summer from June 4-August 13.

YI YI: A ONE AND A TWO  (2000) | DIRECTOR: Edward Yang | WITH: Nien-Jen Wu, Issei Ogata, Elaine Jin, Kelly Lee, Jonathan Chang |  RUNNING TIME: 2H 53M | UNRATED Adult themes | In Mandarin with English subtitles | 4K DIGITAL PROJECTION

The extraordinary, internationally embraced Yi Yi (A One and a Two . . .), directed by the late Taiwanese master Edward Yang, follows a middle-class family in Taipei over the course of one year, beginning with a wedding and ending with a funeral. Whether chronicling middle-age father NJ’s tentative flirtations with an old flame or precocious young son Yang-Yang’s attempts at capturing reality with his beloved camera, the filmmaker deftly imbues every gorgeous frame with a compassionate clarity. Warm, sprawling, and dazzling, this intimate epic, which ranked 98th in the director's poll, is one of the undisputed masterworks of the 21st century.

“Midway through ”Yi Yi,” a morose, skeletally thin teenager (whose nickname is Fatty) tells his date: ”Movies are lifelike. That’s why we like them.” In his view, movies don’t only resemble the world we live in — they expand it. ”We live three times,” he declares, his passion overwhelming his arithmetic. ”Two times as much life at the movies!” After watching this lovely, absorbing film you’ll be inclined to agree. In exchange for three hours of your time, ”Yi Yi” will give you more life.

“Edward Yang, the Taiwanese filmmaker who wrote and directed this intimate epic of a middle-class Taipei’s family’s everyday struggles, knows that for a movie to be full of life, it must above all concern itself with specific lives. ”Yi Yi” begins with the chaotic bustle of wedding preparations — a portrait of the bride and groom is hung upside down, the groom’s jilted girlfriend arrives uninvited and makes a scene — and ends with the somber calm of a funeral.

“Mr. Yang’s style is like a novelist’s prose — lucid, unobtrusive and absorbing. ”Yi Yi,” the first of his movies to be released commercially in the United States, is the work of a master in full command of the resources of his art. Movies are an inherently, sometimes cheaply emotional medium, but it takes a lot to make a grown critic cry. As I watched the final credits of ”Yi Yi” through bleary eyes, I struggled to identify the overpowering feeling that was making me tear up. Was it grief? Joy? Mirth? Yes, I decided, it was all of these. But mostly, it was gratitude.” — A.O. Scott, The New York Times

Tickets are $5 and available at link above. Students use code UMSTUDENT for free admission (Cane Card must be shown at the door).