Electric Shadows
Studio: First Run Features
Rated: NOT RATED
Cast: Xia Yu, Qi Zhongyang, Jiang Yihong, Li Haibin, Guan Xiaotong
Director: Xiao Jiang
WorkNameSort: Electric Shadows
Our Rating: 3.50
Chinese filmmaker Xiao Jiang makes an impressive debut with an extended flashback about two cinema-crazed kids coming of age amid the communist revolution of the early 1970s. One is a precocious mama’s girl who, as the daughter of a single parent, faces perpetual public scorn; the other is a kindly but cowardly dork who’s a better friend to her than a protector. They both live for the outdoor movie screenings that give their entire community a fleeting chance to transcend the conformist realities of life under the red star. Comparisons to Cinema Paradiso have been unavoidable, given that the film is a heartfelt love letter to its own medium. It’s sad, sweet and something of a find â?¦ that is, before it buries itself in a last-minute avalanche of melodrama that’s not only shamelessly manipulative but unforgivably redundant. Pity; with raw material and a vision this strong, there’s no need to gild the lily. (NR; opens Friday, June 23, at DMAC, 407-992-1200)
This article appears in Jun 21-27, 2006.