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Eighteen Springs

Play trailer Poster for Eighteen Springs 1997 2h 3m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 2 Reviews 51% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
An arranged marriage, a sibling's (Anita Mui) schemes and other obstacles thwart a Chinese couple's (Leon Lai, Chien-Lien Wu) plans to wed.

Critics Reviews

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Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader At this point I don’t think it’s a masterpiece–though that doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t see it. Rated: 2/4 Jun 16, 2022 Full Review Panos Kotzathanasis Asian Movie Pulse Although not particularly advertised, “Eighteen Springs” is actually among the best films Hui has directed, and an overall captivating story that is rather well presented cinematically. Rated: 7 Sep 1, 2024 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Leprechaun K It is quite sad, and somewhat flat but still enjoyable. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/28/25 Full Review Audience Member A rather faithful adaptation of the original novel, with minimum amount of plot changes (which is understandable). I like the slowness of the scenes, and how in a plain way the story unfolds. But of course given its mere 2-hour length, lots of details have to be trimmed. 吴倩莲 is just so good and powerful in portraying the main character. On the other hand, 黎明's Mandarin sounds a bit weird and is distracting at times. The film is a little too compressed and it is difficult for the audience to realize that the whole movie actually spans 14 years, and hence appreciate the magnitude of the suffering endured by most of the characters. I wish the make-up artist had at least made the characters look older when they appear at the end of the movie. Overall, it's still a great movie. But the book is still 200% better! 8/10. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Audience Member http://vieplivee.blogspot.com/2008/08/18-spring.html Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Audience Member Maybe Ann Hui wanted a true adaptation but that was just a flop. The details weren't true, and it lost on hold of the theme: fate and love. Let alone the truthfulness of adaptations, the film itself is not well presented as well. A bit disappointed... Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review Audience Member Ann Hui is a good director, but she doesn't seem to master adaptation very well, let alone Eileen Chang's works, probably the most difficult to present in visuals. Ang Lee's Lust, Caution is the best ever. Eighteen Springs comes nothing close. Anita didn't fit the role very well, pardon me, but she gave her best that again outshone the others. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Audience Member Seriously miscast and poor direction. Not even a decent adaptation It's even worse than Love in a Fallen City! Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/19/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Eighteen Springs

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Movie Info

Synopsis An arranged marriage, a sibling's (Anita Mui) schemes and other obstacles thwart a Chinese couple's (Leon Lai, Chien-Lien Wu) plans to wed.
Director
Ann Hui
Producer
Fung-Yee Leung, Raymond Pak-Ming Wong
Screenwriter
Eileen Chang, John Chan Kin-Chung
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Chinese
Runtime
2h 3m