GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Holstra Boring, long, and too preachy.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

hddu10-819-37458 There are few films that I would categorize as perverse or disturbing (Salo' would be one, just so we can level-set here). Xiu Xiu is definitely disturbing as well, for many different reasons. Above all, it is the blatant sexualization and exploitation of this VERY young-looking actress. While on the one hand, it is an attempt at portraying the collective insanity of Chinese communism, it really doesn't humanize anyone to the point that we care; it's just an amalgamation of humans who all seem to be trying to either take advantage of each other or be as indifferent as possible. In the end, this almost appears to come off as some sort of fetish film. There are FAR better films about life under Chinese communism ("To Live" is hands-down the gold standard). Despite the scenery, some interesting acting and the realistic historical background, this is just exploitation of a young, naive actress (and in fact, I don't believe she has ever done anything since).

MartinHafer Xiu Xiu is one of many young people transplanted from their homes in the city to the countryside in an ill-fated attempt by the government to enforce an exchange-type program. The aims might have originally been noble, but this story is about one fictitious girl who suffers greatly because she is dumped "in the middle of nowhere" and is forgotten. Life as a nomadic horse herder doesn't suit this city girl well and her promised return home never materializes--making her desperate to do anything to get back.This is an interesting film because it is critical of the Chinese Communist regime of the 1960s--only something you might have seen in a film made in China in very recent years. It also talks about sexual abuse and exploitation. However, despite these being interesting topics, the overall product left me curiously flat and unimpressed--mostly because the characters were difficult to relate to, were amoral and were amazingly one-dimensional. This SHOULD have left me a lot more satisfied, as films with similar themes (such as "Lan feng zheng", otherwise known as THE BLUE KITE) but instead I just felt detached and wanted the film to end and end soon. I wanted to like this film a lot more than I actually did.FYI--Parents, this film is not appropriate for younger viewers both because of sexual content and because the birth scene is pretty gross. Think twice before letting your kids see this one.

lbcsrw I've read several reviews here and, to me, all of them are missing the point of the film. Even though the main character trades sex for freedom, this takes place within the context of a society where individual desire and freedom simply don't exist. The girl, in the communist sense, has corrupted herself, not by trading her body for favor, but by wanting to. She places her own desires above those of the People and is endlessly punished for it. The film is a meditation on communist values, and how they have misled and betrayed its people. Everyone that the girl meets, except for her emasculated mentor, takes from her until, at the end, she simply has nothing left to give. The film works in the context of a larger metaphor, I believe, one that deals with Tibet and its relationship to China. One can plainly see that China's presence there is harmful, that its values spread corruption even to the furthest reaches. The relationship between the herder and the girl can be seen as a metaphor for the relationship between China and Tibet. The herder's death is not merely a reaction to the loss of a loved one. It is a metaphor for the death of the soul of Tibet. The Chinese government understood this all too well to be a harsh rhetorical criticism against its policies against women, Tibet, and people in general. That is why it was banned there.

MusicalAnime I love this movie... It's such a sad film. It's sad enough to speak of love for such sad things. It starts off so pretty and happy. Such bright colors, pretty sky... then everything just changes. The colors never change, it is always pretty outside.. but the nights are what makes it sad. It made me feel angry of all the things that went wrong in this film... i wanted to be there, to help somehow... everything in this film is done so artisicly. The end of the movie is a perfect way to end sorrow. There is no better way to end something, than to simply end it. I recommend it to all who want to be touched. This is something that will never be done again. Nothing else like it. 10/10 for this one.