本文以巴贊提出的兩種電影美學：「相信影像」與「相信真實」為出發點，思考楊德昌如何建構出獨具電影感的城市再現模式，進而論證楊德昌如何以「相信影像」的美學來實踐「相信真實」的理想。楊德昌一方面呈現了一種藉由極度精密的構圖思維來建構的影像抽象化，並且也藉由對城市生活中的枝微末節的再現，來傳達他對當代影像媒介的思考；另一方面他企圖完整呈現臺北人各種生活面向的野心，又使得《一一》渾然天成得如同真實生活的節錄。楊德昌的影像就在表現主義與寫實主義的兩端擺盪，進而以一種適切而平衡的美學來再現城市。本文將分析楊德昌如何利用多重媒介如攝影、閉路監視器、電腦遊戲、甚至玻璃窗倒影來擴充視域，進而建立出一座充滿電影感但又不脫離日常生活軌道的臺北圖像，而這座城市所呈顯出來的日常性，又在看似平凡之餘，暗中被導演放置於臺灣的社會歷史框架上，不但為世紀之交的城市進行影像存檔，也為這座看似尋常而不見驚奇的城市豎立了電影式的紀念碑，也確立了東亞城市電影與媒介科技的緊密連結。

This essay aims to apply two aesthetic principles posited by Andre Bazin, “faith in the image” and “faith in the reality,” in order to ponder how Edward Yang constructs a specifically cinematic paradigm of representing the city. The “faith in the image” principle will be analyzed in depth from the perspective of media studies in order to show how Yan makes use of this aesthetic strategy to approach the ideal of “faith in reality.” On the one hand, Edward Yang presents a possibility of achieving visual abstraction by making use of ordinary details of the city; on the other hand, his ambition of displaying a complete sketch of people living in Taipei with truthful observations also offers the film such a realistic flavor that it looks like something naturally presented without any artificial arrangements. The cinematic world sways between realism and expressive abstraction, and thus achieves the balance in a disorderly city. The discourse of this essay will be emphasized on how Edward Yang makes use of a myriad of media, including photography, closed-circuit television, video/computer games and reflections on windows to expand the audience'svision and create a cinematic imagery of Taipei without separating it from the everyday track. Although the mundane quality displayed by this city might seem ordinary, it is actually placed within a specific socio-historical moment of Taiwan and therefore exists as a visual record and cinematic monument that belongs uniquely to the turn of the twenty-first century.