X
  • 2012
  • Not Rated
  • Zeitgeist Films
  • 1 h 34 m
  • 2012
  • Not Rated
  • Zeitgeist Films
  • 1 h 34 m

Summary In central China, a Master coach recruits poor rural teenagers and turns them into Western-style boxing champions. The top students face dramatic choices as they graduate – should they fight for the collective good or for themselves? A metaphor for the choices everyone in the New China faces now. (Eye Steel Film)

Directed By: Yung Chang

Written By: Yung Chang

  • 2012
  • Not Rated
  • Zeitgeist Films
  • 1 h 34 m
  • 2012
  • Not Rated
  • Zeitgeist Films
  • 1 h 34 m

China Heavyweight

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 11 Critic Reviews
77
User Score Available after 4 ratings
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Where to Watch

Summary In central China, a Master coach recruits poor rural teenagers and turns them into Western-style boxing champions. The top students face dramatic choices as they graduate – should they fight for the collective good or for themselves? A metaphor for the choices everyone in the New China faces now. (Eye Steel Film)

Directed By: Yung Chang

Written By: Yung Chang

Where to Watch

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 11 Critic Reviews
77
100% Positive
11 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 11 Critic Reviews
77
100% Positive
11 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
100
Jul 1, 2012
As with his previous film, director Chang nurses a compelling drama from a multilayered cultural reality, at once intimate and unfathomably large in implications.
By Liam Lacey FULL REVIEW
80
Jul 5, 2012
As he did in his Three Gorges Dam documentary "Up the Yangtze," Chang examines how a particular strain of Western culture promises opportunity and prosperity for Chinese youth, even as it remains a continual source of intergenerational tension.
By Justin Chang FULL REVIEW
80
Jul 5, 2012
Illustrating the film's rags-to-ring narrative with panoramic mountain views and compact shots of young bodies punching their way up the food chain, Mr. Sun straddles ancient and modern, tranquillity and turmoil, with equal sureness.
By Jeannette Catsoulis FULL REVIEW
75
Sep 19, 2012
Where Wiseman excelled in respecting the broad rhythms and pure storytelling of the ring, Chang's new documentary focuses on the stories of three boxers and weaves them into a compelling narrative that rivals anything Hollywood could script.
By Janice Page FULL REVIEW
70
Jul 19, 2012
With observant fluidity and that grounding point of Qi's desire to fight once again, Chang roots the film in personal, individual stories, keeping larger metaphors for the nation at the edges.
FULL REVIEW
70
Jul 3, 2012
In the end, once we realize the title doesn't refer to these bantams' weight class but to their strength of heart, or something, the film feels blandly respectful and, oddly enough, apolitical.
By Michael Atkinson FULL REVIEW
63
Jul 6, 2012
Although we never really get to know He or Miao, despite following them around vérité-style, director Yung Chang expertly captures the rays of Western culture bouncing off them.
FULL REVIEW

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Details

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Production Company CNEX Foundation, Channel 4 Television Corporation, Eye Steel Film, Movie Central, NHK, Rogers Group of Funds, Société de Développement des Entreprises Culturelles (SODEC), TV5 Quebec, The Movie Network (TMN), Téléfilm Canada, Yleisradio (YLE), Yuan Fang Media, ZDF/Arte
Release Date Jul 6, 2012
Duration 1 h 34 m
Rating Not Rated
Genres
Website http://www.eyesteelfilm.com/projects/completed-films/china-heavyweight/
View All Details

Awards

Golden Horse Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
VC FilmFest - Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Milan Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination

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