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Shanghai Dreams

Play trailer Poster for Shanghai Dreams 2005 2h 1m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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60% Tomatometer 5 Reviews 62% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
Despite the happiness of his wife (Tang Yang) and his two children, a man wants to move his family back to Shanghai, China.

Critics Reviews

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David Walsh World Socialist Web Site 02/15/2021
The events feel reduced to the level of small change, even with a small dose of self-pity. The girl is not that sympathetic; one feels, all in all, that greater tragedy lurks in the Chinese situation. Go to Full Review
Kim Voynar Cinematical 08/24/2006
3/5
Viewed in the context of the progression of Wang's work ... Shanghai Dreams represents a progression of sorts in his attempt to portray migrants in China in a more sympathetic light ... Go to Full Review
Rich Cline Shadows on the Wall 06/06/2006
3.5/5
Skilfully filmed but fairly dull, this drama paints a remarkable portrait of life in China's factory towns in the 1980s. Go to Full Review
Daniel Kasman d+kaz. intelligent movie reviews 02/22/2006
C
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Audience Reviews

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camille l 02/20/2018 Dans son style si particulier de longs plans silencieux où le spectateur a le temps d'y trouver ce qu'il a envie d'y trouver, Wang Xiaoshuai réalise un film quasi auto-biographique sur une famille du Troisième Front qui prend bien son temps pour n'oublier aucun détail. La première partie est si calme qu'on frôle l'ennui par moments, mais au bout d'une heure, quand l'histoire se met en branle, plus rien ne peut arrêter Wang Xiaoshuai et ses acteurs (Gao Yuanyuan et Yan Anlian sont formidables) jusqu'à un final en apothéose. La bande-son est au diapason. Shanghai Dreams est une réussite. See more 07/16/2010 This was a great film about optimism, hope, ambitions, dreams, love and moving onto better things. It did have quite a depressive or cold way of telling the story but this only portrayed how it wouldve been like in those times of poverty and restrictivness thus so making it feel more authentic. I also liked the style of how the movie was shot making it look like an actual film from the 80's when in fact it was only made in 2007. See more 04/11/2010 This is one of those Chinese films about things Chinese. In this case the underlying subject matter is the Third Front, where families were sent from the cities to live and work in the countryside in case the Soviet Union invaded China and clobbered its cities. The main interest here, for me, is this historical angle. China has pulled off a number of wacky full-on country-wide social experiments and I found it interesting to become acquainted with this particular one. Imagine for yourself if you are a big city dweller that you are persuaded (or coerced) by your government to move your family to the sticks. You'd probably dream every day of moving back to the city but the reality is that the dream becomes more and more remote as time goes by. You'd try to think about what's best for your children, but they might have different aspirations. All of this is explored in Shanghai Dreams. The film takes place in the early eighties which means certain seventies western fashion trends were just filtering in and the director captures some of these with a sad hilarity. The "dance party" scene is priceless. Consider the film more educational than emotional. Big complaint: Gao Yuanyuan, so good in Season of Good Rain, is too old for her character and, honestly, doesn't seem to have honed her acting chops just yet. <a href='http://sitenoise-atthemovies.blogspot.com/2010/06/shanghai-dreams-qing-hong-2005-china.html' target='_blank'>sitenoise at the movies: Shanghai Dreams</a> See more 02/21/2010 Great movie! Espcially loved the bit where the Dad shows up at the factory dressed ala Grim Reaper to kick the boy's ass. See more 01/22/2010 Old-fashioned 70's style arty movie about the generation gap in the countryside of post-Tiananmen China. Engrossing although somewhat ponderous. See more 07/28/2009 it's very realistic and beautiful. i can't believe this movie only get 3 stars overall. See more Read all reviews
Shanghai Dreams

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Movie Info

Synopsis Despite the happiness of his wife (Tang Yang) and his two children, a man wants to move his family back to Shanghai, China.
Director
Wang Xiaoshuai
Producer
Pi Li
Screenwriter
Lao Ni, Wang Xiaoshuai
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Chinese
Runtime
2h 1m
Sound Mix
Dolby SR