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In Theaters Now
  • 2024
  • Strand Releasing
  • 2 h 24 m
  • 2024
  • Strand Releasing
  • 2 h 24 m

Summary Gu Wentong, a middle-aged food critic, is drifting through the local eateries of vibrant Beijing with his younger photographer colleague Oyang. A divorcé with a 6-year-old daughter and estranged from his father for decades, he is looking for a new perspective on life while reconsidering his failings as a father, a son, and a lover. Whil...

Directed By: Lu Zhang

Written By: Lu Zhang

In Theaters Now
  • 2024
  • Strand Releasing
  • 2 h 24 m
  • 2024
  • Strand Releasing
  • 2 h 24 m

The Shadowless Tower

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 7 Critic Reviews
78
User Score Available after 4 ratings
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Summary Gu Wentong, a middle-aged food critic, is drifting through the local eateries of vibrant Beijing with his younger photographer colleague Oyang. A divorcé with a 6-year-old daughter and estranged from his father for decades, he is looking for a new perspective on life while reconsidering his failings as a father, a son, and a lover. Whil...

Directed By: Lu Zhang

Written By: Lu Zhang

Where to Watch

View Showtimes

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 7 Critic Reviews
78
100% Positive
7 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 7 Critic Reviews
78
100% Positive
7 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
91
Feb 25, 2023
Scenes do not begin or end in The Shadowless Tower so much as bleed and spill into each other, inviting you into a dreamscape where the boundary between fact and mirage is purposely blurry.
By Leonardo Goi FULL REVIEW
80
Apr 2, 2024
Zhang uses quiet to suggest an active calmness, so when a particular sound punctures the air — gurgling water, the music on a videotape, a child’s questions — it feels like the notes of life, the stuff that’s supposed to spark us.
By Robert Abele FULL REVIEW
80
Mar 14, 2024
This movie opens itself to you with its feeling for people, its grace notes and a few bravura moments that close the distance between characters beautifully.
By Manohla Dargis FULL REVIEW
80
Feb 25, 2023
As The Shadowless Tower ambles onward, it reveals its arcs of change not in dramatic showdowns or sudden revelations, but in ellipses, in the occasional mysterious fold in chronology and, most rewardingly, in the casual, unforced repetition of certain motifs.
By Jessica Kiang FULL REVIEW
80
Feb 25, 2023
The film’s delicacy of touch comes through not only in the bittersweet love story at its centre, but in a wealth of seemingly marginal details.
By Lee Marshall FULL REVIEW
75
Oct 9, 2023
The characters’ generational angst humanizes the film’s view of a nation at a crossroads.
By Jake Cole FULL REVIEW
70
Feb 25, 2023
Chinese writer-director Zhang Lu’s minor-key drama will be too muted and elusive to break beyond festivals, but its melancholy spell stays with you.
By David Rooney FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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Details

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Release Date Mar 15, 2024
Duration 2 h 24 m
Genres
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Awards

Beijing International Film Festival
• 5 Wins & 6 Nominations
Silk Road International Film Festival China
• 2 Wins & 2 Nominations
Sichuan TV Festival
• 2 Nominations

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