The movie begins with a printed discussion between Confucius and his disciples about how to solve society's problems. The answer is material enrichment, but what happens once people are enriched? This film attempts to answer that question as a group of yuppie friends navigate the throbbing and prosperous metropolis of Taipei in the 90s.
Released the same year as this movie, Blur's song "Girls and Boys" captures the fast pace and vigorous ways youngsters were finding to interact in the "streets like a jungle," with the chorus ending, "Always should be someone you really love." In this movie, the various superficial yet often powerful youngsters interact as if in a formal baroque dance, swinging between partners in love, business, and friendship. Molly and Qiqi (petulant PR firm CEO and people-pleasing schoolfriend assistant) stand out as the two someones who have their ups and downs but are the ones who really love each other.
While the vapidity of wealth, wealth chasing, and convenience threaten to banalize these pampered and cantankerous business youths, a sense of heart remains that keeps them in the seductive city trap in which they are all caught. Although "Confucian Confusion" is an original script, it feels like it could have been a novel. It places such value in the formal weaving together of each character's story that it almost feels Austen-like. Notably, although almost all of these tyros are known to one another, we never see them all together. It is the viewer, not the participants, who has the God's eye view of proceedings.
An excellent comedy from Yang, "Confucian Confusion" precedes his rise to international recognition, yet it is by no means a lesser work.
