Mountains May Depart

Released Feb 12, 2016

2h 12m

Drama

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Mountains May Depart: Trailer 1

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88%

Tomatometer

86 Reviews

69%

Audience Score

500+ Ratings

On the cusp of the capitalist explosion in China, Shen Tao has two suitors-Zhang, an aspiring entrepreneur, and his best friend Liangzi, who works in a coal mine. Shen Tao decides to marry Zhang -- a man with a future.

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Critics Consensus

Beautifully filmed, powerfully acted, and rich with meaning, Mountains May Depart represents another outstanding outing from writer/director Zhangke Jia.

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Nick Pinkerton

Sight & Sound

Jia and Yu have, unsurprisingly, made a movie of taciturn eloquence, always sure-footed in negotiating its discursive narrative construction, even as it sometimes wobbles at the level of performance.

Jan 3, 2018

Full Review

Gail Tolley

Time Out

Jia remains a major filmmaker, and this film is never less than bold and ambitious.

Rated: 3/5

Dec 22, 2017

Full Review

Tara Brady

Irish Times

This is an extraordinarily beautiful film with lush, occasionally radical cinematography from Nelson Lik-wai Yu, profound things to say about the immigrant experience and a commanding performance from Zhao Tao.

Rated: 4/5

Dec 18, 2017

Full Review

Grant Watson

Fiction Machine

Festival audiences ate it up, of course, but is it actually any good?

Rated: 5/10

Apr 7, 2024

Full Review

Vadim Rizov

Filmmaker Magazine

Mountains May Depart is a steadily deflating mess, and (as widely noted) Jia does himself no favors by filming the last third in English. But I found it moving precisely because watching it reminded me that I’ve been watching his work for over a decade.

Jan 18, 2023

Full Review

Dustin Chang

Floating World

Jia foresees this rootlessness happening for the next generation of Chinese. It's like predisposed collective melancholy that will hit China like tidal waves in the near future. Poignant and sad, Mountains is another great film from the modern master.

Feb 14, 2021

Full Review

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isla s

This film starts with an optimistic, energetic and youthful feel to it, with 'Go West' by Pet Shop Boys playing. It is upbeat in the first half but not entirely. It's a sobering family drama about freedom - personal freedom and Chinese cultural expectations, I suppose. It's a bit slow, plot wise, mid-way through and may bore some but I thought it's reasonably good. I'm not sure I'd especially recommend this as such - it doesn't stand out entirely but it's certainly not bad, if that helps at all.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Bold, original and poignant with an incredibly smart look on the workings of modern Chinese society Mountains May Depart is a brilliant if a little flawed twist on a seemingly basic premise. The three acts all have amazing things about them, though I think the second works the best, the transitions are smooth, detailed and carry on from each other excellently well. I hadn't seen a Jia film before this one and his original directing style made me want to watch as much of him as possible. It doesn't always pay off but he's insistent on doing something different that other films, especially of this type do not. While still good, the first act made me think the film was going to be a enjoyable if not a bit mildly diverting but Jia follows the film through with such originality and flair it makes it work as a whole. Capitalism is rife in Chinese society which poses a dangerous precedent of westernisation, loneliness and lack of identity which the film comments on terrifically. The whole thing is filmed beautifully and written well with a few hiccups. This is a fantastically new, thought provoking film that while it doesn't always work I appreciate Jia's attempt at originality and respect him and this film far more than a few others I've liked equally as much.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The structure is great, the emotions are rich, but the third act unravels my prior impression and that's a shame. It's always better to have a bad film with a mindblowing ending than the reverse of that.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

Full Review

Serge L

The modernisation was of good effect. The story otherwise did not work for me. Terrible.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

09/16/18

Full Review

Audience Member

A disjointed, cheesy and poorly-acted film that constantly shifts focus between characters (even abandoning them for no reason), with arbitrary leaps in time that make everything seem too superficial and unimportant to work as a look at the lives of common people.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Thoughtful and well acted drama on regrets and decisions in life.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

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Zhang-Ke Jia

Director

Tao Zhao

Tao

Yi Zhang

Zhang Jinsheng

Zijian Dong

Dollar

Sylvia Chang

Mia

Jing Dong Liang

Liangzi

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Mountains May Depart: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

On the cusp of the capitalist explosion in China, Shen Tao has two suitors-Zhang, an aspiring entrepreneur, and his best friend Liangzi, who works in a coal mine. Shen Tao decides to marry Zhang -- a man with a future.

Director: Zhang-Ke Jia
Screenwriter: Zhang-Ke Jia
Distributor: Kino Lorber
Production Co: Bitters End, Shanghai Film Group, MK2 Productions
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Chinese
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 12, 2016, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 10, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $80.4K
Runtime: 2h 12m

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