It's frustrating following Feng Xiaogang's transformation into the Chinese Steven Spielberg. This isn't innately a bad thing. He's still a talented director capable of doing astonishing things with moving images. It's just a huge disappointment seeing Aftershock come so close to being something extraordinary only to waste far too much of its potential on saccharine melodrama and nationalist chest-beating, with a climax which feels completely unearned.
Based on the Chinese-language novel of the same name, Aftershock was released to tie in with the relief efforts following the Sichuan earthquake in 2008. The film tells the story of a family in Tangshan, beginning more than three decades earlier, when the great earthquake of 1976 devastated that city, killing nearly a quarter of a million people.
The family become separated in the chaos following the quake, when a dreadful misunderstanding sees the mother, Li Yuan Ni (Xu Fan, One Foot Off the Ground, A...
Based on the Chinese-language novel of the same name, Aftershock was released to tie in with the relief efforts following the Sichuan earthquake in 2008. The film tells the story of a family in Tangshan, beginning more than three decades earlier, when the great earthquake of 1976 devastated that city, killing nearly a quarter of a million people.
The family become separated in the chaos following the quake, when a dreadful misunderstanding sees the mother, Li Yuan Ni (Xu Fan, One Foot Off the Ground, A...
- 10/2/2010
- Screen Anarchy
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.