Old Beast

2017

1h 48m

Drama

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100%

6 Reviews

Tomatometer

An aging Erdosian businessman's children take him to court when he takes the money that has been raised for his wife's surgery.

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Audience Member

Old Beast is a ruthless and honest depiction of a family riddled with dysfunction, misplaced loyalty, and selfish intentions abound. It is a roller coaster ride that plunges downhill from the start and doesn't yield until the very last scene.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

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Ziyang Zhou

Director

Tumen

Lao Yang

Chaobei Wang

Yang Bing

Danna Yi

Wang Lixia

Mingshuo Wang

Yang Mei

Feng Su

Liang Guodong

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Richard Kuipers

Variety

Social realism is delivered with an impressively tough edge in "Old Beast," a compelling portrait of a selfish father whose reprehensible behavior drives his adult children to take drastic action.

Nov 3, 2017

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Clarence Tsui

Hollywood Reporter

Armed with some gritty mise-en-scene, riveting camerawork and a gripping turn by veteran Tu Men in the leading role, Zhou Ziyang's first feature offers an engaging portrait of dreary, disoriented lives in a provincial Chinese city.

Oct 24, 2017

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Panos Kotzathanasis

Asian Movie Pulse

"Old Beast" is a great film that highlights the director's knowledge of the place he grew up at and Tu Men's performance, as it presents a combination of entertainment and meaningfulness through a number of points but quite realistic social remarks.

Nov 30, 2019

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Jennie Kermode

Eye for Film

Though a little too crude to work as powerfully as it might in dramatic terms, Old Beast is nevertheless an important film, and a bold one to make considering the politics of state funders and censors.

Rated: 3/5

Feb 28, 2018

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James Marsh

South China Morning Post

Zhou's screenplay perfectly captures the frustrations of the new generation, but fails to make them any more sympathetic than their transparently detestable father.

Rated: 3/5

Dec 20, 2017

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Sarah Ward

Screen International

In a film that doesn't shy away from depicting harsh truths, Zhou lets the drama unravel without any overt histrionics; never playing the situation for easy tears or cathartic laughs.

Oct 30, 2017

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Synopsis

An aging Erdosian businessman's children take him to court when he takes the money that has been raised for his wife's surgery.

Director: Ziyang Zhou
Producer: Jingyang Li, Sunny Sun, Jiaqi Wang, Liqiao Wang
Screenwriter: Ziyang Zhou
Production Co: Scenefone Film Equipment Rental, Glowing Peak Entertainment, Beijing Daqiao Tangren Entertainment Co., FangJin Visual Media Culture Communication (Beijing) Co., Dongchun Films, Having Me Films
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Chinese
Runtime: 1h 48m