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Bookmark this pageBalzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (2002)
Director: Dai Sijie
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
A touching, sensitive, lyrical tale of 'reactionary' teenage students banished to a remote but exotically beautiful village during the Cultural Revolution, Dai's film of his own semi-autobiographical bestselling novel plods from cliché to worthy cliché as if films like King of the Children had never been made. It's a tale (naturally) of undying friendship, of love (the lads fall for the local tailor's granddaughter, uneducated but sure to blossom thanks to their attention), of art (Western music and literature, especially) overcoming poverty, politics and prejudice, and of bittersweet memories of hard, character-forming times. Not unwatchable, but bereft of anything fresh to say, the film displays the influence of its French funding at every turn.Author: GA
Cast & crew
Director: Dai Sijie
Producer: Lisa Fayolle
Cast: Zhou Xun, Chen Kun, Liu Ye, Wang Shuangbao, Cong Zhijun, Wang Hongwei, Xiao Xiong full cast
Duration: 112 mins
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