An Unfinished Film

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An Unfinished Film

Released Mar 14

1h 45m

Drama

Documentary

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Popcornmeter

78%

Tomatometer

27 Reviews

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

In January 2020, director Xiaorui reunites his cast and crew to complete a film that was abandoned during production ten years earlier. However, the team is suddenly placed into lockdown together during the onset of COVID-19. Confronted with the challenges of the pandemic, Xiaorui and his crew are forced to determine how to move forward in a rapidly changing world. From acclaimed director Lou Ye (Suzhou River, Summer Palace), An Unfinished Film is "an utterly unique and very important movie about Covid, the crisis that affected all of us," (The Guardian). Combining fiction and documentary footage together, Lou Ye both commemorates those lost to the virus and creates "one of the most thoughtful, truthful and tactful depictions of the pandemic ever put to screen." (The Wrap).

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Jake Wilson

Sydney Morning Herald

...we’re invited to reflect not only on the film Lou has made, but also the film he hasn’t made and perhaps can’t.

Rated: 3.5/5

Apr 30, 2025

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Richard Brody

The New Yorker

The vertiginous condensing of fiction and nonfiction, of past and present, has a radically destabilizing effect that’s inseparable from the audacity of Lou’s political vision.

Mar 15, 2025

Full Review

Alissa Wilkinson

New York Times

Life gets in the way of art all the time, and art can be made out of life. What matters, the movie suggests, is hanging onto one another for dear life.

Mar 13, 2025

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Katie Smith-Wong

Flick Feast

Lou breaks the boundaries to deliver a fascinating feature that was born from fiction but built by real life. The result is artistic, divisive but nonetheless necessary.

Rated: 3/5

May 18, 2025

Full Review

Sarah Vincent

Sarah G Vincent Views

For people who did not experience the pandemic or do not mind relieving the pandemic, “An Unfinished Film” is the definitive film of that era, which is why viewers who do not normally watch films that they live through should probably avoid this movie.

May 5, 2025

Full Review

Simon Miraudo

Movie Squad (RTRFM 92.1)

Reality and fiction collapse in on themselves for this metatextual drama about the authoritarian constraints imposed on art and life, incited by a lumbering hunk of dramatic irony: that a crew should head to Wuhan in January 2020 to finish their film.

Rated: 4/5

May 2, 2025

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Ye Lou

Director

Hao Qin

Jiang Cheng

Xiaorui Mao

Director Xiaorui

Xi Qi

Sang Qi

Xuan Huang

Ye Xiao

Ming Liang

Ah-Jian

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An Unfinished Film: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

In January 2020, director Xiaorui reunites his cast and crew to complete a film that was abandoned during production ten years earlier. However, the team is suddenly placed into lockdown together during the onset of COVID-19. Confronted with the challenges of the pandemic, Xiaorui and his crew are forced to determine how to move forward in a rapidly changing world. From acclaimed director Lou Ye (Suzhou River, Summer Palace), An Unfinished Film is "an utterly unique and very important movie about Covid, the crisis that affected all of us," (The Guardian). Combining fiction and documentary footage together, Lou Ye both commemorates those lost to the virus and creates "one of the most thoughtful, truthful and tactful depictions of the pandemic ever put to screen." (The Wrap).

Director: Ye Lou
Producer: Philippe Bober, Yingli Ma, Ma Yingli
Screenwriter: Ye Lou, Yingli Ma, Ma Yingli
Distributor: Film Movement
Production Co: Yingfilms, Essential Filmproduktion
Genre: Drama, Documentary
Original Language: Chinese
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 14, 2025, Limited
Box Office (Gross USA): $69.1K
Runtime: 1h 45m

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