1. Oslo, August 31st (2011)
Joachim Trier’s devastatingly beautiful film follows a recovering drug addict over a 24-hour period in Oslo. Like Yang’s work, it masterfully explores modern alienation and the weight of memory. The film is less about plot and more about capturing a profound
internal state, using the city as a backdrop for existential wandering. Its quiet, character-focused realism and melancholy tone make it a spiritual cousin to Yang’s portraits of Taipei, where characters navigate the space between their past selves and uncertain futures.
2. Columbus (2017)
No director working today feels more influenced by the likes of Yang and Ozu than Kogonada. His debut feature is a masterclass in quietude and connection. Set in the architecturally rich city of Columbus, Indiana, it follows two people from different worlds who find solace in each other's company. The film uses architecture the way Yang uses the cityscape of Taipei: as a silent character that shapes the lives and feelings of its inhabitants. Its focus on gentle conversation, shared space, and the beauty in the mundane is pure Yang.
3. Still Walking (2008)
Hirokazu Kore-eda is often seen as an heir to the Japanese master Yasujirō Ozu, who was a major influence on Yang. Still Walking perfectly embodies this lineage. The film gathers a family for a day to commemorate the death of the eldest son. Over 24 hours, resentments, memories, and unspoken affections gently surface. Kore-eda’s patient, observant style, which focuses on the small, meaningful moments of life, directly echoes the family dynamics and unsaid emotions that anchor Yi Yi.
4. Certain Women (2016)
Kelly Reichardt is a master of minimalist, realist cinema. Certain Women tells the loosely connected stories of three women in small-town Montana, each navigating quiet frustrations and flickers of connection. Reichardt’s patient, observational style is reminiscent of Yang’s, allowing drama to unfold in stillness and silence. She focuses on characters on the margins, whose everyday struggles reveal deeper truths about loneliness and resilience in a way that feels incredibly authentic and deeply humane.
5. Paterson (2016)
Jim Jarmusch's ode to the quiet beauty of routine follows a bus driver and poet named Paterson in Paterson, New Jersey. The film is a gentle, meditative look at creativity in everyday life. Like Yang's characters, Paterson finds meaning not in grand gestures, but in observation, repetition, and the small interactions that make up a life. Its celebration of the mundane and its warm, humanistic tone feel deeply connected to the spirit of a film like Yi Yi, which finds profound truth in the simple act of living.
6. Losing Ground (1982)
A groundbreaking work of independent cinema by Kathleen Collins, Losing Ground was one of the first feature films directed by an African American woman and remained largely unseen for decades. The story follows a philosophy professor whose intellectual life is thrown into turmoil as she seeks a more ecstatic experience of the world. The film is a smart, sensuous, and deeply personal exploration of a woman's interior life, marriage, and self-discovery. Its intellectual and emotional depth, combined with its focus on complex characters, aligns with Yang's interest in the friction between our inner and outer worlds.
7. After Life (1998)
Another masterpiece from Hirokazu Kore-eda, After Life is set in a celestial way station where the newly deceased must choose one memory to take with them into the afterlife. The film is a profoundly moving and philosophical meditation on memory, happiness, and what makes a life meaningful. Its gentle pacing and documentary-like interviews with the characters create a tapestry of human experience that is both sprawling and intimate, much like the multi-generational stories that Yang excelled at telling.
8. Middle of Nowhere (2012)
Directed by Ava DuVernay, this criminally underseen drama tells the story of a woman whose life is put on hold when her husband is incarcerated. The film is a powerful and intimate character study, focusing on the protagonist's quiet sacrifices and internal struggles. It avoids melodrama, instead finding its power in small, truthful moments and a deep sense of empathy for its characters. This focus on a person's inner world against the backdrop of challenging circumstances shares a profound sensitivity with Yang's cinema.
9. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)
This film might seem like an outlier—it's a black-and-white Iranian vampire Western. But beneath the genre trappings is a story steeped in urban loneliness and unexpected connection, themes Yang frequently explored. Director Ana Lily Amirpour creates an unforgettable atmosphere of cool, desolate dread and romantic longing. The film's focus on mood, its stylish yet minimalist aesthetic, and its story of isolated souls finding each other in a morally decaying city gives it a surprising and powerful resonance with Yang's explorations of alienation.
10. Sidewalls (2011)
This charming Argentine film, known in Spanish as Medianeras, is a quirky romantic comedy about two lonely people living in the heart of Buenos Aires who are perfect for each other but keep missing their chance to meet. The film uses architecture, urban design, and modern anxieties to explore how cities can both connect and isolate us. Its thoughtful, witty, and visually clever examination of urban loneliness and the search for connection in a crowded world makes it a lighter, but no less insightful, companion piece to Yang's filmography.
