There is a lot to admire about this pointed modern-day political satire, but you’ll have to get over a few hurdles. One of them is the unnecessary length, another is the distracting use of a circular frame – a device that references Chinese art and hints at its heroine’s constrained plight, but often makes the viewer feel as if they’re peering through a keyhole.Read More »
Plot summary: (from anutshellreview.blogspot.com)
Feng Xiaogang’s Assembly was the opening film at last year’s Pusan International Film Festival, and tickets were sold out in record time once they were made available online. Such is the faith (or curiosity) of the new film from the director who brought us movies like World Without Thieves, and martial arts Hamlet The Banquet. When you think of Chinese directors making a movie based out of Chinese history, you can’t help but imagine the massive amount of propaganda that get so blatantly infused into the story and especially the dialogue. But here, Feng managed to bring about a movie which goes beyond the usual ra-ra, and shows us that a movie with universal themes can also come out from what is essentially a war movie based upon China’s tumultuous era after WWII.Read More »
Synopsis:
A look at the lives of members of a Military Cultural Troupe in the 1970s.
Review:
Mixing graceful dance scenes with gruesome battle sequences, Youth presents a rose-tinted view of China’s Cultural Revolution and war with Vietnam, but its narrative about the loss of innocence of its young characters is fascinating
The seismic social and political changes in 1970s and ’80s China form the backdrop to director Feng Xiaogang’s ( I Am Not Madame Bovary ) sprawling tale of youthful longings, life-altering tragedies and enduring regrets, adapted by Chinese author Yan Geling from her semi-autobiographical novel.
Abruptly pulled from a September release in China before the Communist Party gathered for its national congress, Youth probably touches a nerve with its depiction of the Cultural Revolution’s devastating impact on ordinary families and of the horrors of the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese war.
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