By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Xiaoshuai Wang
Starring: Jiang Du | Jingchun Wang | Mei Yong | Roy Wang | Xi Qi
Original language title: Di jiu tianchang
Year: 2024
Running time: 185
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9581076/reference/
Chris says: “If you’re a Mubi subscriber and a fan of slow Asian cinema, I recommend this 2019 film from director Wang Xiaoshaui, best known for BEIJING BICYCLE (2001) and also SHANGHAI DREAMS (2005), which I saw and loved at TIFF the year it came out but has been difficult to see ever since.
“SO LONG, MY SON feels like a modern-day equivalent to something like Zhang Yimou’s TO LIVE (1994), tracing rapid change in China over a few decades through the POV of one family. It has a complex, fractured timeline that requires close attention, but it pays off beautifully as the whole story slowly coheres. Its 185-minute running time is naturally weighty, but essential in how its lengthy journey arrives at a most resonant conclusion on the order of other three-hour films such as YI YI and DRIVE MY CAR. 4.5 cats“
So Long, My Son