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Springtime in a Small Town
Universal acclaim
Based on 12 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 4 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Foreign
Written by:
Ah Cheng
Fei Mu (1948 screenplay)
Li Tianji (story)
Directed by: Tian Zhuangzhuang
Release Date:
Theatrical: May 14, 2004
DVD: November 23, 2004
Running Time: 116 minutes, Color
Origin: China / Hong Kong / France
Language(s): Mandarin (with English subtitles)
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Hu Jingfan, Xin Baiqing, Wu Jun, Ye Xiaokeng, and Lu Sisi
Set in China in 1946, shortly after the withdrawal of Japanese troops, this is the story of a couple in a small town whose lives are interrupted by the visit of the husband's old friend from Shanghai.
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database
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...
Village Voice J. Hoberman
Tian's movie seems to be among the finest expressions of the Chinese new wave.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis
For Tian, who was banned from directing by Chinese authorities for a decade, it marks a triumphant return; for those who have loved the filmmaker's work in the past, few resurrections have seemed as welcome.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Scott Foundas
Simply put, it represents the work of a filmmaker so exhilaratingly in command of his craft that he can, among other things, turn a single image of two people standing next to each other -- fully clothed, their bodies not quite touching -- into one of the most sublimely erotic moments we have ever beheld on the screen.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
There's a painterly translucence to this ''Springtime,'' and a mystery, too; each frame is as delicately poised and lit as a Vermeer portrait of a woman, beckoning but unknowable.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
As Mark Li Ping-bing's beautiful cinematography observes the change of season, the movie becomes a broader meditation on rebirth, and how, in the language of T. S. Eliot, April, the month that stirs such hopes for the future, is also "the cruellest month" for awakening such keen desire.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle G. Allen Johnson
Only a director who truly knows repression could have made a movie so subtle and so understanding.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Has the suffocating intensity of great chamber drama.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
This erotically charged drama may not be quite as great as the original, but it's an amazing and beautiful work just the same.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Richard James Havis
Should please art house buffs across the board. Connoisseurs of Chinese film will be pleased to discover that Tian's meticulous talent has not withered during his enforced hiatus. Moviegoers who like their visions of China rarefied and past tense will delight in the careful period setting.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.5 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
judith j. gave it a5:
Whats the point?
Damon C. gave it a 5:
It is beautiful filmed - that was the first reaction I had coming out of the cinema. Sure, it was slow moving, all about the little actions in life, that everything was understated - but that we already expect from watching a Chinese movie of this genre. What is disappointing is that I was left cold at the end. All that simmering emotions under the calm surface that were torturing these poor souls - after a while it is just plain boring. Show me something I haven't seen. And what about the post-WW II setting - sure the sets were beautiful but it impacted nothing else. Watch, if you want to, for the cinematography. But give me Zhang Yimou any day.
