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Ni Jian (Nianzhen) is a partner in a fractious computer firm trying to negotiate a move into games software. Unhappy at work, his domestic life is similarly unfulfilling and takes a turn for the worse when Jian runs into his childhood sweetheart Sherry, (Ke Suyun) at his brother-in-law's uncomfortable wedding reception.
The collapse and subsequent descent into a coma of Jian's mother-in-law sends his wife Min-Min (Jin) scuttling off to a retreat, triggering behavioural repercussions in their children Ting-Ting (Lee) and Yang-Yang (Jonathan Chang). On a business trip to Japan Jian secretly meets with Sherry and together they reflect upon the course their lives could have taken.
Yang's dense (the outline above is only the half of it), detailed account of three generations of a family embroiled in a crisis of self-doubt is an intensely rewarding picture, which more than repays its almost three hours running time. Intricately nuanced, lovingly crafted - so as to avoid fussy complexity - and decidedly wry in tone, it is perhaps best compared to a kind of superior soap-drama where all the characters integrate and interconnect as a commentary on the rigours of family life and lost opportunity.
The confident screenplay and the unhurried direction is complemented by erstwhile director Nianzhen's pitch-perfect turn as the eternally reflective Jian. There's equally fine support from the rest of the performers, both young and old. Something of a gentle companion piece to Yang's "A Brighter Summer Day", "A One and a Two" is nonetheless compelling and masterful storytelling in its own right.
