this is a mega-informative post. And Edward Yang did a commentary himself? Didn't know that. Saw the movie on TV, as you know.

>
>Yang talks about the use of reflections in this film. You
>could do close ups on characters yet you can see their
>surroundings as well.

It's a great effect. And in using the reflections to superimpose the city on top of the character, I think it helps to make the point of society's deep influence even on your most personal relationship moments. The two are connected, and here we see them, literally, as one.

>
>There is one reflection inparticular that was purely
>coincidental but created a really cool shot that I hadn't
>noticed. There's a scene where Min Min (NJ's wife) is
>talking to her co-worker and it's evening time. We see the
>reflection of the city as they speak. There's a stop light
>that's flashing red in the middle of the screen. The red
>flash just happens to be in the same place as Min Min's
>heart.

That's awesome. Kind of makes you feel creepy too, like when you used to watch Unsolved Mysteries and Robert Stack would look so frightening sometimes.

>He also talks about why some scenes were shot they way they
>were. The scene in the park (on the stairs) where NJ is
>telling Sherry why he left we see it from a bystander's
>perspective rather than close up. Too many directors are
>afraid to do this. They feel we have to see every facial
>expression and hear everything in order to get an idea of
>what is really happening. In this case we don't need to,
>their body language tells us everything. When NJ and Sherry
>are walking away we see them from about 20 feet away. We
>see that their body language is relaxed and comfortable. We
>get a much better experience from seeing them from far away
>as opposed to having a camera dolly roll right in front of
>them.

I told you! Didn't I tell you? This is good shit. Edward Yang is the man!