Wang Bing’s award winning look at the young people working in a Chinese sweatshop. We watch as they work, joke, fall in love and plan their future.
This is an observational look at a group of co-workers who will work their way into your heart. As I’ve always said, while we work to make money, the reason we stay is the co-workers and it’s easy to see why these people hang together, they make each other laugh. While the film isn’t all fun and games we do get a sense of why they get along.
Running just under four hours a film like YOUTH may sound like a tough slog, but it really isn’t. I was given a chance to see the film before Toronto and I thought I might break the film up into pieces, but quite honestly outside of a bathroom break I watched the film from start to finish. I was quite simply too invested in the people on the screen to walk away. The best thing description of the film was I went into the film out of an obligation to cover it because it was at Cannes, and Toronto and New York and I can out of it enjoying the hell out of it because it connected me to some people who made me laugh and smile and feel connected to humanity.
Don’t go into this film expecting grand story lines but rather go in expecting to just see life happen. Races are run, jokes told, plans are made, clothes are sewn together, people come and go. This is life happening at the speed of life, which means it’s a leisurely affair.
I enjoyed this film a great deal. Not only did the film make me feel but it made me ponder about life as lived, by me and by others.
Recommended.
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