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Generally favorable reviews - based on 15 Critics What's this?

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  • Summary: Family ties bind us together in visceral ways, but the forces of modern life often seem to drive parents and children apart. Elderly Mr. Shi, a widower and a retired scientist, has arrived from Beijing to spend time with his divorced daughter, Yilan. He hopes to help her sort out her life in this strange new country. (Magnolia) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 15
  2. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. 88
    In observing the reality of this relationship, Wang contemplates the "generation gap" in modern societies all over the world. His film quietly, carefully, movingly observes how these two people of the same blood will never be able to understand each other, and the younger one won't even care to.
  2. Rich in revealing detail and apt in its use of everyday Spokane settings, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers shows that Wang remains a master explorer of the landscape of the human heart.
  3. 75
    An intelligent look at family dynamics set in a boring Washington State suburb where Bible-thumping Mormons come knocking on your door.
  4. Very little actually happens, since most of the time Mr. Shi sits alone in Yilan's empty apartment, wondering how to help her. But there's a gentle beauty in these long, anguished silences, and Wang and his actors make the most of it.

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