Summer Palace

    Summer Palace
    2006

    Synopsis

    The lives of four Beijing University students, from 1988 to the early 2000s.

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      Cast

      • Hao LeiYu Hong
      • Guo XiaodongZhou Wei
      • Hu LingLi Ti
      • Zhang XianminRuo Gu
      • Cui LinXiao Jun
      • Zeng MeihuiziDongdong
      • Bai XueyunWang Bo
      • Duan YihongTang Caoshi

      Recommendations

      • 100

        The New York Times

        In Summer Palace Lou nonetheless succeeds in finding a cinematic language that does more than summarize the important events of a confusing decade. He distills the inner confusion -- the swirl of moods, whims and needs -- that is the lived and living essence of history.
      • 90

        Los Angeles Times

        For director Lou Ye, who also co-wrote the script and was a student in Beijing during that crucial year, Summer Palace is the story of his particular lost generation, a story he felt so deeply about he risked his career to tell it. Search out this vivid film in a theater. Don't let the sacrifices he made be in vain.
      • 88

        TV Guide Magazine

        It's a bit like a Chinese "Splendor In The Grass."
      • 80

        The New Yorker

        In truth, I’ve never seen so much lovemaking in an aboveground film, but the revelation, and great triumph, of Lou’s work is that these scenes are never pornographic--that is, never separated from emotion.
      • 80

        L.A. Weekly

        Jolting narrative ellipses sometimes threatens to bring the whole house of cards tumbling down. What never lessens is the movie's rapturous eroticism, and the exquisite longing in each one of Yu Hong's sideways glances.
      • 75

        New York Post

        The bureaucrats in Beijing want to get rid of the sex and full-frontial nudity and scenes of cops beating protesters in Tiananmen Square. I would keep all that but cut out some of the flab in the second half of the 140-minute drama.
      • 70

        Chicago Reader

        Lou's mobile camera captures the flushed energy of the faces and bodies of beautiful youths in love with all the verve and commitment of the early French New Wave.
      • 70

        The Hollywood Reporter

        At the heart of the film is a powerful performance by the beautiful and most promising Hao Lei as its tempestuous, complex heroine.