Synopsis
Two married couples adjust to the vast social and economic changes taking place in China from the 1980s to the present.
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Cast
- Wang JingchunLiu Yaojun
- Yong MeiWang Liyun
- Qi XiShen Moli
- Du JiangShen Hao
- Ai LiyaLi Haiyan
- Li JingjingGao Meiyu
- Xu ChengShen Yingming
- Roy WangLiu Xing
- Zhaoyan GuozhangZhang Xinjian
Recommendations
- 100
Screen Daily
A challenging narrative structure - withholding key information and skipping between several time frames - makes this film a daunting watch overall. But Wang’s ambition and seriousness, aided by strong ensemble performances, ensure it is a formidable and, for the most part, involving work of novelistic scope. - 100
CineVue
Subsumed by the bigger picture, the plot resurfaces at the end to utterly devastating effect. Only a film with the epic sweep of So Long, My Son could pull off such a narrative feat so beautifully. - 100
The Observer (UK)
So measured is the pacing, so sinuous the timeline, so understated the subtle ache of the performances that you don’t immediately realise that Wang Xiaoshuai’s exquisite three-hour drama has been performing the emotional equivalent of open-heart surgery on the audience since pretty much the first scene. - 100
The Guardian
So Long, My Son is a piercingly, profoundly moving picture that peels and exposes the senses. - 90
Variety
Utterly wrenching. - 80
CineVue
At just over three-hours, So Long, My Son is an emotionally wrenching film that’s epic in scope but intimate in feeling. - 80
Empire
Beautifully played — especially by Wang Jingchun — So Long, My Son is sprawling, audacious, sometimes bewildering, ultimately moving. It tests your patience but it’s worth it. - 80
The Irish Times
It’s Lee Chatametikool’s temporal-jumping edits that define this compelling drama.
