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Bei qing cheng shi (A City of Sadness) (1989)

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Critic Reviews: 4
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 0

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Critic Reviews: 1
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 0

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Average Rating: 4.3/5
User Ratings: 1,510

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Movie Info

Seen through the prism of the Lin family, this complex family drama from Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao Hsien details a brief but crucial moment in Taiwanese history between 1945, when 50 years of Japanese colonial rule came to an end, and 1949, when Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Kuomintang forces established a government-in-exile after the Communist army captured mainland China. The film opens with the reedy voice of Emperor Hirohito announcing Japan's surrender as the eldest of the Lin clan's four

Unrated, 2 hr. 37 min.

Art House & International, Drama

Directed By: Hsiao-hsien Hou

In Theaters: Sep 4, 1989 Wide

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Critic Reviews for Bei qing cheng shi (A City of Sadness)

All Critics (6) | Top Critics (2) | Fresh (4) | Rotten (0)

Beautiful family saga by the great Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien.

December 12, 2002 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

The film is so complicated that you can understand why a number of Taiwanese magazines published family trees to help viewers follow each character's story, but if you can get to grips with it this is a fascinating history lesson.

July 4, 2006 Full Review Source: Film4

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Film4

Hou turns in a masterpiece of small gestures and massive resonance; once you surrender to its spell, the obscurities vanish.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out

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Time Out

An ambitiously conceived, sometimes frustratingly elliptical family chronicle that shows one family's experience immediately following the Japanese occupation of the nation.

December 11, 2002 Full Review Source: MovieMartyr.com

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Jeremy Heilman

MovieMartyr.com

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This is the film that put Taiwan on the map of films. It's one of the best films ever made.

December 10, 2007

Jojo Shek

Super Reviewer

The Godfather of Taiwanese cinema. Hou Hsiao Hsien's masterpiece documents the political and social chaos during the birth of the nation through the Lin family, ran by the old patriarch and his three surviving sons. Hou's film builds an elaborate set of relationships between almost a dozen major characters grounded

May 15, 2007

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