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      I Wish I Knew

      Released Feb 14, 2020 2h 5m Documentary List
      100% Tomatometer 16 Reviews Shanghai's people and architecture, from the 1800s until today. Read More Read Less Watch on Fandango at Home Premiered Oct 04 Buy Now

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      Critics Reviews

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      Robert Abele Los Angeles Times The resulting mix of image and interview, weariness and wonder, makes for a sober assessment of just how much change China's largest city has been through since the 1930s... Feb 13, 2020 Full Review Jonathan Romney Film Comment Magazine Ending a minor but fascinating film in Jia's provocative oeuvre, the images of these sleepers are a prelude to the other troubled dreams of China (A Touch of Sin, Mountains May Depart, Ash Is the Purest White) that he has made since. Rated: A Jan 24, 2020 Full Review Glenn Kenny RogerEbert.com I Wish I Knew functions as an admirable cinematic tone poem about a place and its times. Rated: 3/4 Jan 24, 2020 Full Review Mattie Lucas From the Front Row A city symphony in a minor key, reminiscent of Pennebaker and Ruttman, that searches for the soul of a people and finds a microcosm of a century of upheaval and uncertainty. Rated: 3.5/4 Apr 27, 2020 Full Review Dave Platt Battleship Pretension Jia has a gift for exposing the underside of words like 'development', 'progress' or 'revolution', abstract political or economic programs that manifest at the cost of people's physical and cultural displacement. Feb 20, 2020 Full Review Joshua Brunsting The CriterionCast Making its theatrical debut stateside a decade after bowing at the Cannes Film Festival, Jia Zhangke's documentary is a masterpiece worthy of (re)discovery. Jan 31, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

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      Audience Member Best film from Jia in recent years. A larger theme spanning over centuries during the modernisation of China. Interviewed many people who talked about their parents' tales during the Second World War and the Chinese Civil War. I can probably talk as much as my parents were of that generation. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Audience Member Most interviewees are representative of the time they spoke of, be it the inter- or civil war years, the cultural revolution, the great leap forward or the open door era starting from late â~70s. Yet, the film is not capable of adequately capturing the rapid socio-political changes and how such changes have derailed the fate and impacted existential conditions of most Chinese, if it is director Jia Zhangkeâ(TM)s intention. While Jia was commissioned by Shanghai authorities to produce this documentary, I trust that he was not compromising his conscience in art for the purpose of publicising the 2010 expo. It is exciting to see the people including some who have become of the history shared their affection and first-hand experience in those turbulent days and troubled times. No matter how solid their background was and how much they loved the country, he or she had inevitably drowned in the mighty current of the times, and suffered. I Wish I Knew is a documentary slightly âdramatizedâ? by whom it had interviewed, making it an alternative to Jiaâ(TM)s other simple and unadorned films for the ordinary people. Hope this forms a good transition for Jia in moving forward to subject matters and genres he is concerned most. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Audience Member å<ä¸-çä¿,å'ªè 1/2å 3/4-太快ï 1/4å?å<å<æ-¹å?'ä¿,å'ªå±ï 1/4 Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Audience Member The (mostly twentieth-century) history/life of Shanghai, told by/through some of its noteworthy inhabitants/participants or their offspring, and some of its films. There's no doubt that the bourgeoisie/nationalists/fascists/capitalists are shallow/decadent/corrupt, and the communists (there may be no more left in China today) are virtuous/heroic. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review Audience Member Belles images... intà (C)ressant... Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review Audience Member Very boring. Different stories and point of views. Cultural and historical details. The pacing is very slow and flat. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Movie Info

      Synopsis Shanghai's people and architecture, from the 1800s until today.
      Director
      Zhang-Ke Jia
      Screenwriter
      Zhang-Ke Jia
      Distributor
      Kino Lorber
      Genre
      Documentary
      Original Language
      Chinese
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Feb 14, 2020, Limited
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Apr 30, 2020
      Runtime
      2h 5m
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