Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageThe Highway (1934)
Director: Sun Yu
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Shot as a late silent but released with music and effects, Sun's classic is pitched as a call for national defence against the Japanese, unnamed for censorship reasons. Six unemployed men leave the city to work as labourers on a new national highway. Sun starts out celebrating their camaraderie on and off the job and their flirtations with two young waitresses. The plot arrives when some of them are imprisoned and tortured by a local warlord in league with 'the enemy'. Sun was the only US-trained director in Shanghai, but his ideas are fresh and irreducibly Chinese. One scene, in which the estimable Li Lili refuses to avert her gaze from the sight of the men bathing naked, clearly derives from Borzage's The River. Otherwise, the main thing Sun picked up from Hollywood movies was his well developed sense of fun.Author: TR
Cast & crew
Director: Sun Yu
Producer: Luo Mingyou
Cast: Jin Yan, Li Lili, Chen Yanyan, Zhang Yi, Zheng Junli, Han Lan'gen, Liu Qiong full cast
Duration: 111 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Stephen Poliakoff discusses 'Glorious 39'
Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Glorious 39’ is his first film for cinema since ‘Food of Love’ in 1997. Dave Calhoun met him
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
Steven Soderbergh on 'The Informant!' and 'The Girlfriend Experience'
We talk to Steven Soderbergh about his two forthcoming films: one featuring a porn star, the other a chubby Matt Damon
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
London Children's Film Festival
Read our exclusive reviews of films playing at the 2009 London Children’s Film Festival
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'
Masters of contrary comedy, Joel and Ethan Coen have struck gold again with their latest, ‘A Serious Man’
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now