You can’t deny Zhang Yuan’s commitment to the subject of the film, an adaptation of a novel by famed Chinese punk-lit novelist Wang Shuo: a four-year-old’s resistance to the conformity the kindergarten he boards at demands of him, a symbol of the conformity required by society as a whole. But the film lacks the force of Zhang’s other work. Perhaps he had too much money at his disposal, and needed the low-budget forceful realism of a project like the superb Seventeen Years. Also, I’m personally resistant to a film whoise major charm resides in a bunch of cutesy three- to six-year-olds. And the overemphatic symphonic score is a really bad choice.
by Ian Johnston | Source: 35mm print
25 Jun 2006 7:32 AM | Submit Comment