Chinese coming-of-age ensemble drama based around a military cultural troupe in 1970s Chengdu. From Aftershock director Xiaogang Feng.
"Youth chronicles the...
Chinese coming-of-age ensemble drama based around a military cultural troupe in 1970s Chengdu. From Aftershock director Xiaogang Feng.
"Youth chronicles the joys and travails of a provincial military-arts troupe, soldiers in the People's Liberation Army whose duty it is to promote culture, revolutionary values, music, and dance. At the centre of the story is He Xiaoping (Miao Miao) a talented dancer from Beijing with a painful family history. Due to her innocence and social status, Xiaoping quickly becomes a scapegoat and laughing stock amongst her peers. As time passes and the group gradually splinters apart, however, her life takes unexpected turns and she emerges a true heroine." (Toronto International Film Festival)
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82 %17 reviewsRotten Tomatoes® rating
86 %272 reviewsAudience score rating
"The film serves as a paean to idealism and endurance, yet the word "heart-breaking" comes to mind scene after scene."
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Variety
Variety"Feng [snakes] his camera exuberantly though scenes that highlight colourful costumes, dynamic choreography and beautiful chorines."
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The Washington Post
The Washington Post"As a straight, sentimental melodrama, "Youth" works well. While there are a lot of conventional tropes, the cast enacts them with such fresh, tenderhearted sincerity that they regain some power."
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The New York Times
The New York Times"This sweeping saga of a generation marked by political and social upheaval is told with a combination of virtuoso filmmaking and unrelenting schmaltz."
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Screen Daily
Screen Daily"If our understanding of the losses these characters have suffered feels incomplete, it's hard to come away entirely unaffected as these men and women look back at their young adulthood and the whirlwind of historical change against which it played out."
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Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times"Youth, for all its technical prowess, is perhaps the director's most melancholy and pessimistic film about Chinese society yet."
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Hollywood Reporter
Hollywood ReporterYouth (2017) | Details
- Rating
- MA15+, Strong battle violence
- Runtime
- 136
- Genre
- Drama
- Country of origin
- China
