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27
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93
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82
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73
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72
Ghost Town
71
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70
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67
Bolt
65
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
64
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63
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, The
63
Burn After Reading
61
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
60
Traitor
59
Role Models
58
Express, The
58
Quantum of Solace
58
City of Ember
57
Secret Life of Bees, The
57
Body of Lies
57
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
57
High School Musical 3: Senior Year
57
Flash of Genius
56
Twilight
56
W.
56
Zack and Miri Make a Porno
55
House Bunny, The
54
Get Smart
53
Quarantine
53
Rocker, The
53
Lucky Ones, The
52
Longshots, The
51
Mamma Mia!
49
Sex Drive
49
Family That Preys, The
49
Soul Men
47
Swing Vote
47
X-Files: I Want to Believe, The
46
Lakeview Terrace
45
Blindness
45
Pride and Glory
43
Eagle Eye
43
Meet Dave
43
Death Race
41
Beverly Hills Chihuahua
39
Nights in Rodanthe
37
Miracle at St. Anna
36
Space Chimps
36
Righteous Kill
36
Fly Me to the Moon
35
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
35
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
35
Mirrors
34
My Best Friend's Girl
31
Max Payne
28
Haunting of Molly Hartley. The
27
Women, The
26
Babylon A.D.
24
Bangkok Dangerous
20
American Carol, An
19
Saw V
15
Disaster Movie
15
College
xx
Australia
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

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Up the Yangtze
84
Christmas Tale, A
84
Ballast
84
Momma's Man
84
Happy-Go-Lucky
83
Trouble the Water
83
U2 3D
82
Tell No One
82
Frozen River
82
Rachel Getting Married
81
Let the Right One In
81
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80
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79
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79
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79
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78
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78
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77
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75
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75
Betrayal - Nerakhoon, The
74
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73
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73
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73
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72
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72
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70
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69
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69
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69
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68
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67
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67
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66
Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story
66
Elegy
66
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64
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64
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64
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64
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63
JCVD
63
Eden
63
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63
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62
Changeling
62
Kabluey
62
Duchess, The
62
Mister Foe
62
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61
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61
Brick Lane
61
Universe of Keith Haring
59
Nights and Weekends
59
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58
Splinter
57
Towelhead
57
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57
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56
Special
56
Save Me
56
Religulous
56
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55
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55
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55
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54
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54
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54
Good Dick
53
RocknRolla
53
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52
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52
Virtual JFK: Vietnam If Kennedy Had Lived
51
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50
Breakfast with Scot
49
Children of Huang Shi, The
47
How About You
47
Choke
46
Choose Connor
46
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46
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45
Shoot on Sight
44
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43
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43
Tru Loved
43
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41
Johnny Got His Gun
41
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40
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40
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40
Passengers
37
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34
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33
My Name Is Bruce
32
Repo! The Genetic Opera
31
Hounddog
30
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28
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27
House of the Sleeping Beauties
26
Everybody Wants to Be Italian
26
Filth and Wisdom
25
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xx
Dostana
xx
Phoebe in Wonderland
xx
All of Us
xx
Matador, The
xx
Billy: The Early Years
xx
Roadside Romeo
xx
B.O.H.I.C.A.
xx
Eden Lake
xx
Just Buried
xx
Beer for My Horses
xx
Mary
xx
Lower Learning
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Up the Yangtze
Zeitgeist Films
 |
|
MPAA RATING: Not Rated
Starring
Jerry Bo Yu Chen,
Campbell Ping He,
and
Cindy Shui Yu
In China, it is simply known as 'The River.' But the Yangtze—and all of the life that surrounds it—is undergoing an astonishing transformation wrought by the largest hydroelectric project in history, the Three Gorges Dam. Chinese-Canadian director Yung Chang returns to the gorgeous, now-disappearing landscape of his grandfather’s youth to trace the surreal life of a “farewell cruise” that traverses the gargantuan waterway. With a humanist gaze and wry wit Chang’s Upstairs Downstairs approach captures the microcosmic society of the luxury liner. Below deck: a bewildered young girl trains as a dishwasher sent to work by her peasant family, who is on the verge of relocation from the encroaching floodwaters. Above deck: wealthy international tourists set sail to catch a last glance of a country in dramatic flux. The teenage employees who serve and entertain them—tagged with new Westernized names like “Cindy” and “Jerry” by upper management—warily grasp at the prospect of a better future. "Up the Yangtze" gives a human dimension to the wrenching changes facing not only an increasingly globalized China, but the world at large. (Zeitgeist Films)
| GENRE(S): |
Documentary
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Yung Chang
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Yung Chang
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
Theatrical: April 25, 2008
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
93 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
Canada |
| LANGUAGE(S): |
English / Mandarin |

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...
100
Variety
John Anderson
A gloriously cinematic documentay of epic, poetic sadness.

100
The New York Times
Stephen Holden
An astonishing documentary of culture clash and the erasure of history amid China’s economic miracle.

100
Salon.com
Andrew O'Hehir
Chang's images of the Yangtze and the new megacities replacing the villages on its banks are spectacular, and his cast of characters rival any fiction film I've seen recently.

100
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Filmmaker Yung Chang finds a sad and beautiful way to glimpse the big picture of dislocation through an exquisitely poised small study.

100
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
In his masterful and haunting documentary Up the Yangtze, Yung Chang shows the old China drowning helplessly under the weight of the new.

100
San Francisco Chronicle
G. Allen Johnson
Remarkable.

88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
Before that marvel of human engineering - China's Three Gorges Dam - completes its legacy of human upheaval, there are vanishing sights to be seen.

88
TV Guide
Ken Fox
May be the best film to date about the humanitarian and environmental impact of China's enormous Three Gorges Dam project.

80
Chicago Reader
Andrea Gronvall
Trained in Sanford Meisner's acting techniques, the director wrests surprisingly emotional disclosures from his subjects.

80
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
One of the real pluses of Up the Yangtze, aside from its empathy with its subjects, is its striking visual quality. Beijing-based cinematographer Wang Shi Qing has an impeccable eye, often coming up with haunting images that show both the beauty and uncertainty of this pivotal time.

80
Village Voice
Scott Foundas
By journey's end, Yung has found, in the Yangtze, a brilliant natural metaphor for upward mobility in modern China: Whether they hail from the lowlands or the urban centers, everyone here is scrambling to reach higher ground.

75
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
By focusing on his two young protagonists, Chang is able to explore the cultural differences between China and the rest of the world, resulting in sequences that are alternately humorous and eye-opening

75
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
If, like me, you're both desperate to see new public-works systems in our own country and sensitive to the possible human and ecological damage, Up the Yangtze provides a devastating view of top-down, broad-stroke social programs.

75
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Tasha Robinson
Goes from sleepily hypnotic to riveting over the course of 90 minutes.

70
Washington Post
Michael O'Sullivan
The disparity between Cindy and Jerry is itself obscene, but less so than that illuminated by the customers of Farewell Cruises, whom Yung shows to be almost parasitic in the way they feed off the misery (albeit without knowing it) of those who serve them.

67
Austin Chronicle
Kimberley Jones
When the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River began construction in the early Nineties, an estimated 2 million people's lives were impacted. That's a staggering number to contemplate, but Up the Yangtze effectively personalizes that near-meaningless number by putting a face on at least a few of those 2 million.

63
New York Post
V.A. Musetto
China's public image suffers another blow with Up the Yangtze, a documentary by Chinese-Canadian Yung Chang.


The average user rating for this movie is 9.1 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes
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