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So Close to Paradise
Cinema Village Features

So Close to Paradise reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 61 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
N/A out of 10
based on 10 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 0 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: Not rated

Starring Wang Tong, Shi Yu, Guo Tao, and Wu Tao

Set in Shanghai, this is the story two migrants from the countryside who move to the big city and follow divergent paths toward what they hope will be happy lives -- one as a worker, the other as a crook.


GENRE(S): Foreign  
WRITTEN BY: Pang Ming
Wang Xiaoshuai
 
DIRECTED BY: Wang Xiaoshuai  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: February 19, 2002 
Video: February 19, 2002 
Theatrical: March 9, 2001 
RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: China 
LANGUAGE(S): Mandarin (with English subtitles) 

Mandarin title "Biandan, guniang"

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...

80
LA Weekly Ernest Hardy
So moving and so timely.
Read Full Review
80
Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
The result is a film that is wise, fatalistic and romantic in just the right proportions--in the best noir tradition.
Read Full Review
75
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Strong acting and no-nonsense filmmaking lend interest and impact to the dramatic story.
Read Full Review
70
Film.com Ernest Hardy
Xiaoshuai isn't really interested in glamorizing or even exploring the gangster lifestyle; nor is he interested in conventional dramatic arcs.
Read Full Review
70
TV Guide Ken Fox
The film is filled with a languid air of decadence and decay, and a touching sympathy for people whose lives are crushed in the shadows of progress.
Read Full Review
63
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
The Stockholm syndrome, that strange psychological malady by which hostages bond emotionally with their captors, is the central theme in this intimate melodrama.
Read Full Review
60
New Times (L.A.) Andy Klein
The texture is reminiscent of last year's "Suzhou River," but the basic material isn't as rich.
Read Full Review
50
New York Post Lou Lumenick
An intermittently interesting drama.
50
The New York Times Dana Stevens
Like Lou Ye's "Suzhou River," a Hitchcock homage similarly set in Shanghai's demimonde, So Close to Paradise offers an intriguing and sometimes self-canceling mixture of emotion and style.
Read Full Review
50
Village Voice Jessica Winter
The elliptical, even fragmented editing style clashes with the reiterative voice-over, which could indicate a stylistic choice or cutting under duress.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 0.0 (out of 10) based on 0 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

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