Interviewed by the media at Cannes, Yang said that A Confucian Confusion was about the distrust that exists between modern people, while Mahjong was about young people's deceitfulness. He said that both films were true to life, perhaps too true to life, and that this excess of honesty was probably the reason audiences did not connect with the film.
在坎城接受其他媒體採訪時，楊德昌表示，《獨立時代》談現代人的互不信任，《麻將》談青少年欺世矇騙的問題，都很寫實，可能就是太寫實了，和觀眾的溝通有了落差。