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Youth (Hard Times)

Play trailer Poster for Youth (Hard Times) Released Nov 1 3h 46m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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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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Nicolas Rapold New York Times Shot in a present-tense vérité style, it stitches together micro-stories into a larger narrative in which negotiation can’t undo exploitation. Some tales are mundane but maddening... Nov 5, 2024 Full Review Simon Abrams RogerEbert.com This one stands out not only because it’s the fittingly agonizing climax to Wang’s trilogy but also for its sheer wealth of heartbreaking and totally convincing details. Rated: 3.5/4 Nov 1, 2024 Full Review 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 Avi Offer NYC Movie Guru Patient audiences will be rewarded the most. What the film effectively sheds light on, though, is the sleaziness of the textile company that hired these young people who clearly work very hard. Oct 27, 2024 Full Review Dan Schindel Hyperallergic “Hard Times” is the “Youth” trilogy’s odd duck. Though there are no shared characters between the films, it is structurally identical to “Spring” … The heavy stylistic overlap between the two films makes “Hard Times” feel redundant.  Oct 17, 2024 Full Review Katarina Docalovich Paste Magazine Youth (Hard Times) evolves Wang’s ideas about labor and humanity in a way that is paradoxically both darker and lighter. Rated: 8.3/10 Sep 23, 2024 Full Review Read all reviews
Youth (Hard Times)

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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
Distributor
Icarus Films
Production Co
House on Fire, Gladys Glover Films, CS Production
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
Chinese
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 1, 2024, Limited
Runtime
3h 46m