Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
66
Bandslam
45
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
29
Collector, The
23
Couples Retreat
80
District 9
61
Extract
39
Fame
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
60
Funny People
32
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
27
Gamer
41
G-Force
39
Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, The
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Love Happens
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
51
My Sister's Keeper
42
Orphan
28
Pandorum
63
Perfect Getaway, A
86
Ponyo![]()
35
Post Grad
48
Proposal, The
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
24
Sorority Row
83
Star Trek![]()
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
55
Taking Woodstock
47
Time Traveler's Wife
96
Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3D![]()
35
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
28
Ugly Truth, The
88
Up![]()
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum![]()
56
Adam
72
Adela
39
Adventures of Power
78
Afghan Star
61
After the Storm
66
Afterschool
xx
All the Best
58
American Casino
72
Amreeka
48
Antichrist
73
Araya
62
Art & Copy
55
As Seen Through These Eyes
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The![]()
13
Beautiful Life, A
70
Beeswax
35
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71
Big Fan
66
Black Dynamite
51
Blind Date
xx
Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76
Bliss
35
Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57
Boys Are Back, The
45
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star![]()
70
Bronson
45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
55
Casi Divas
57
Chelsea on the Rocks
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
59
Collapse
44
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82
Cove, The![]()
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The![]()
67
Departures
xx
Dil Bole Hadippa
71
Disgrace
xx
Do Knot Disturb
70
Earth Days
24
Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85
Education, An![]()
55
Endgame
xx
Eulogy for a Vampire
xx
Everyone Else
xx
Fatal Promises
56
Fifty Dead Men Walking
62
Five Minutes of Heaven
74
Flame & Citron
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
28
Free Style
xx
From Mexico with Love
50
Fuel
25
Gentlemen Broncos
50
Give Me Your Hand
58
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo![]()
52
Grace
64
Harmony and Me
81
Headless Woman, The![]()
xx
Heretics, The
63
Horse Boy, The
73
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
74
Humpday
94
Hurt Locker, The![]()
29
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16
If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75
In Search of Beethoven
83
In the Loop![]()
61
Intimate Enemies
42
Irene in Time
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
19
Labor Day
xx
Laila's Birthday
41
Little Ashes
41
Little Traitor, The
66
Liverpool
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
83
Maid, The![]()
xx
Ministers, The
59
More Than a Game
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
xx
Mystery Team
48
New York, I Love You
73
Night and Day
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34
Other Man, The
xx
Painter Sam Francis, The
54
Paper Heart
xx
Paradise
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
44
Peter and Vandy
35
Play the Game
77
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx
Pretty Ugly People
65
Providence Effect, The
76
Rembrandt's J'accuse
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
40
Shrink
61
Skin
77
Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx
Skiptracers
46
Splinterheads
39
St. Trinian's
89
Still Walking![]()
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
55
Storm
65
Tetro
70
That Evening Sun
72
Thirst
xx
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61
Trucker
xx
Turning Green
83
U2 3D![]()
66
Unmade Beds
66
Unmistaken Child
70
Visual Acoustics
55
Walt & El Grupo
67
Way We Get By, The
69
We Live in Public
64
Wedding Song, The
64
Where is Where?
xx
White on Rice
74
Woman in Berlin, A
69
World's Greatest Dad
70
Yes Men Fix the World
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx
You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Shadow Magic
EMAILPRINTSony Pictures Classics

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 22 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 4 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by: Ann Hu
Directed by: Ann Hu
Release Date:
Theatrical: April 6, 2001
DVD: September 11, 2001
Running Time: 112 minutes, Color
Origin:
Summary
RATING: PG for brief mild language
Starring Jared Harris, Xia Yu, Lu Peiqi, Lu Liping, Xing Xufei, and Wang Jingming
Set in 1902, this comedy centers around the arrival of a Westerner who introduces silent films to Imperial Peking.
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Washington Post Stephen Hunter
Sumptuous, warm, continually amazing, it's a completely enjoyable couple of hours at the flickers.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Curtis Morgan
Rising above simple sentiment to explore class differences and the enduring clash between East and West with wit and wisdom.
Portland Oregonian Barry Johnson
The re-creation of early 20th-century Beijing is dense and loving, and Hu shows just as much affection for the people who start to trickle into the shabby little cinema.
Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
It's a film about culture clash, the generation gap and the loss of tradition that inevitably accompanies the arrival of anything new.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
Shadow Magic isn't interested in psychology or character study. It's a series of tableaux and on that level succeeds admirably.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
Never quite builds the compulsive emotional power it needs to be an unforgettable personal drama.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Desmond Ryan
Transports us to a world that still had a capacity for awe, and that's the core of its charm.
Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
Evokes the dawn of cinema in China with much charm, humor and subtlety.
Read Full Review >Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard
Plays like a Chinese "Cinema Paradiso," full of feeling without succumbing to sentimentality.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
The most delightful segments are those which observe new audiences experiencing the motion picture phenomenon.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
The story doesn't exactly startle with surprises and has a tendency to hammer and rehammer its points.
Read Full Review >New York Post Jonathan Foreman
Often charming and sweet, and always prettily photographed.
TV Guide Ken Fox
Unfortunately, Hu and her army of co-writers saddle the story with a tired romantic subplot and fail to develop meaningful characters.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Amy Taubin
Properly picturesque but lacks subtlety and substance in blending Chinese and Western history, ideas, and cinematic conventions.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The movie is more concerned with the story line (premiere-fire-threat-rescue) than with painting the time and place.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.5 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Antal Z. gave it a9:
Simple story has drama and humor in equal doses. Beautifully photographed and well acted. All in all, it's a charming little movie that provides (almost) two hours of first class entertainment.
Chad S. gave it a 7:
"Shadow Magic" could've been overblown, a movie, in which the Beijing opera players and still photographers, set out to destroy the westerner's movie equipment as a way of preserving their respective livelihoods. Since Chinese film has such a rich history, the right choice is made to show the advent of film exhibitionism as a cause for celebration, but the acceptance of Shadow Magic should've been preceded by a little more resistance. In particular, Ling (Xing Yufei), the daughter of a great opera star, who sells out her father by romancing Liu (Xia Yu), a boy who loves new inventions more than old traditions. You have to accept the film's license to be nostalgic, as it wants us to believe that a foreigner like Raymond (Jared Harris) wouldn't be more aggressive about amassing a fortune. But "Shadow Magic" works if you like movie history, because the first-hand accounts of how patrons reacted to this new entertainment comes alive on the screen as it's described in books.
Victor Y. gave it a 10:
Accurate, believable, and interesting.
