Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageFather (1996)
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
'Bad-boy' novelist Wang Shuo ran headlong into the brick wall of Film Bureau censorship with this adaptation of his own 1991 novel I'm Your Dad. The film was not seen anywhere until an English subtitled print was smuggled to Europe in 2000 for festival screenings. Ma Linsheng (Feng, also the co-writer and designer) is a minor Party functionary, a recent widower sharing his old Beijing courtyard apartment with his schoolboy son Ma Che (Hu). The first hour explores the generation gap, attitude gap and emotional tensions between father and son with a fair degree of wit and sympathy for both sides. But everything falls apart after the boy pushes his father into a second marriage. The film loses touch with recognisable realities and lapses into over-heated rhetoric and fantasy. Still, some of the satire bites.Author: TR
Cast & crew
Producer: Han Sanping, Wang Weijing
Cast: Feng Xiaogang, Hu Xiaopei, Xu Fan, Qin Yan, Wang Weining full cast
Duration: 96 mins
Top Stories
Ridley Scott interview
Director Ridley Scott tells Cath Clarke why he's making a science fiction comeback
Cannes Film Festival 2012: half-time report
Dave Calhoun reports on the hits, misses and a shocking new masterpiece from Michael Haneke
What do you think?
Post your review now