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Youth (Hard Times)

2024 3h 43m Documentary List
100% Tomatometer 9 Reviews Popcornmeter 0 Ratings
In YOUTH (HARD TIMES), individual and collective stories unfold in Zhili's textile workshops, becoming ever more dramatic as the seasons go by. Fu Yun keeps making mistakes and is mocked by her colleagues. Xu Wanxiang can't find his notebook, without which his boss refuses to pay him his wages. From atop a passageway, a group of workers watch their indebted boss beat up a supplier. In another workshop, the boss has taken off with all the money. The workers find themselves alone, robbed of the fruits of their labor. Hu Siwen tells the story of the 2011 Zhili riots: police brutality, imprisonment and fear. After bitter negotiations, the workers return home to celebrate the New Year.

Critics Reviews

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Jake Cole Slant Magazine The second installment in Wang Bing’s trilogy of documentaries about garment workers similarly leans into durational extremes but eventually and sneakily reveals a broadened scope. Rated: 3/4 Sep 12, 2024 Full Review Jonathan Romney Screen International As with the previous episode in Wang’s documentary trilogy, 2023’s Youth (Spring), repetition -- coupled with a feeling of claustrophobic enclosure -- is very much of the essence in this evocation of the sheer grind of shopfloor life. Sep 3, 2024 Full Review Siddhant Adlakha Variety Just when it seems like Wang Bing‘s textile documentaries might run out of observations, the Chinese filmmaker’s “Youth (Hard Times)” — the second in his planned trilogy — presents the passage of time in unforeseen ways. Aug 27, 2024 Full Review Diego Batlle Otroscines.com Like few other documentaries in recent decades, Youth denounces the desperation for money and the heartbreaking level of exploitation that has been one of the competitive keys with which China has fueled its economic train. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 4.5/5 Aug 27, 2024 Full Review Andrew Reichel In Review Online What comes across fiercely... is the fact that no one is stuck in a rut yet: not Wang’s ever watchful camera, and certainly not the people in front of it. Aug 19, 2024 Full Review Rory O'Connor The Film Stage Youth (Hard Times) leaves you with the feeling of something monumental: a granular view of the frayed hems of late capitalism that still has 152 minutes to go and, if reports are to be believed, a couple of weddings to get through. Rated: B+ Aug 16, 2024 Full Review Read all reviews

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Movie Info

Synopsis In YOUTH (HARD TIMES), individual and collective stories unfold in Zhili's textile workshops, becoming ever more dramatic as the seasons go by. Fu Yun keeps making mistakes and is mocked by her colleagues. Xu Wanxiang can't find his notebook, without which his boss refuses to pay him his wages. From atop a passageway, a group of workers watch their indebted boss beat up a supplier. In another workshop, the boss has taken off with all the money. The workers find themselves alone, robbed of the fruits of their labor. Hu Siwen tells the story of the 2011 Zhili riots: police brutality, imprisonment and fear. After bitter negotiations, the workers return home to celebrate the New Year.
Director
Bing Wang
Producer
Sonia Buchman, Hui Mao, Nicolas R. de la Mothe, Vincent Wang
Screenwriter
Bing Wang
Production Co
House on Fire, Gladys Glover Films, CS Production
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
Chinese
Runtime
3h 43m