Examines how the generation of Chinese recently come of age has adjusted to the country's embrace of capitalism and the ensuing rush to rapid modernization.
Comment
06/14/08
Young & Restless In China (2008)
75 %
Reviews Counted: 12 Fresh: 9 Rotten:3 Average Rating: 6.6/10
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins
Synopsis: Starting in 2004 Ambrica began filming nine Chinese Gen X’ers at home and at work, returning once a year to record the changes in their lives. The film tracks four wildly ambitious graduates, a media savvy hip hop artist, two migrant workers living precariously on society’s edge, a dedicated... [More]
Genre: Education/General Interest
Reviews
1 - 13 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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04/18/08
Top Critic
Nuanced and emotionally bittersweet%u2014not nearly as propagandistic (in either direction) as some might expect.
04/14/08
A real-life soap opera you can feel sophisticated for watching -- after all, it's really about globalization, even if broken hearts and family dysfunction occupy center stage.
04/11/08
[Director Sue] Williams should have used subtitles, rather than Western voices, to translate the words of her talking heads. Still, her film is a timely look at the massive changes overtaking China.
04/11/08
Almost everything experienced by the nine, who appear to be in their 20s and 30s, is garden-variety living and learning.
04/11/08
Top Critic
Young & Restless In China is the first of a planned five-part series that will follow nine diverse Chinese citizens over the course of 20 years.
04/10/08
At its best, Young & Restless in China plays like a prosaic complement to the films of Jia Zhangke.
04/10/08
Williams's multi-thread portrait is fascinating only as a scattershot, time-capsule sampling of those whose lives were defined by the Tiananmen Square protests.
04/08/08
Somewhat schematic in its dual professional/personal focus, pic successfully demonstrates the stages of social development through the private dramas of its individual subjects.
04/08/08
Top Critic
Eye-opening study of how China's turbo-charged capitalism leaves something to be desired, especially for the young.
04/07/08
Williams succumbs to one of the most odious habits of the documentary filmmaker by having Western voices translate the words of her talking heads.
04/06/08
One might also take some comfort in the impression it makes that prevailing aims and ambitions are along personal improvement lines rather than political-militaristic ones.
03/31/08
1 - 13 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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