Electric Shadows (2005)

Absolutely the worst movie.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Electric Shadows (2005)With sweeping camera-work, beautiful scenery in several locations in China, and a heartwarming and heartbreaking story of two children trying to make their lives make sense amidst lots of upheaval, "Electric Shadows" makes a great first impression. For movie lovers it works intrinsically, and then it adds another compelling layer--the title refers to movies themselves, and there is scene after scene of makeshift outdoor theaters and crowds of people watching domestic films. It's a highly romanticized bowing down to the art form.It's also an attractive way to see the changing currents in Chinese politics, as seen by the common people in the last forty or so years as the Cultural Revolution went through its paces. The events on and off screen echo, with almost storybook precision, the main moods and events of those times.I found all of this stunning at first, and then I started to get little hints that it was all a bit obvious, and then, as the plot continued to play with both the troubles of these cute kids growing up and with the changing tastes and types of movies shown, I grew restless and irritated. And to grow irritated at such a finely made love story is troubling all by itself.The ability to make a superb looking movie these days is within reach of anyone with a budget. There is no sense that it takes a hugely specialized set of talented technicians and actors to pull it off, as was far more true fifty or even thirty years ago. And the down side to that rears its gnarly head here--this is a movie that should have done more and said more."Electric Shadows" plays so loosely with clichés of meaning and clichés of beauty, it ends up being the very thing it most wants to avoid. A sensation. A glimmer on a flat screen, an electric shadow. The magic is only in the surface, and the more beautiful and compelling it seems to be the more you want it to dig in and go somewhere with sincerity and depth.

This film is great at presenting fascinating characters, but fails to weave them into a compelling narrative. The film begins by introducing an instantly attractive protagonist, a movie addicted water delivery boy. He is abruptly introduced to the feminine lead through the most original device of her attacking him with a brick. Subsequently he gains access to the woman's life story, and then the film becomes a journey through her past, with the ultimate goal of discovering what could have provoked the attack. It is true that both his attacker and her beautiful, would be actress mother are intriguing characters, but their stories are little more than a series of unrelated personal disasters, bound together only by nostalgia for a supposedly golden era of Chinese Communist propaganda films, as presented through the magical medium of outdoor cinema. If this filmmaker could craft plots nearly as skillfully as he does characters, he would be well on his way to greatness.

I loved this movie! It was much better than Beijing Bicycle and most other contemporary Chinese films taking place in modern China. Xia Yu delivers an amazing performance as is expected from him. This movie is somewhat comparable to The Notebook. It definitely ranks up there next to Crouching Tiger and Hero. I cannot praise the movie enough. The movie really has a great twist. It is worth renting all the way. I especially like the portrayal of 1970's China and modern day Beijing. The film sequences from old movies are also great! Being Chinese, I found this movie somewhat accurate in depicting the 1970s. I would recommend this to movie!

This movie, also called "Meng Ying Tong Nian," is a drama set in Communist China. It should not be confused with another movie called "Electric Shadows" which is a documentary about Hong Kong cinema. Anyway, this movie was slow,depressing and dull. If anything good ever happened in Communist China, it never made its way onto a movie screen. If you've seen a lot of movies from Communist China, you've seen others like this. There's a child protagonist, dreary conditions, and a not quite poignant plot. Of course there are scattered acts of violence, repression and bullying. The boy-favoring ways of Chinese families rear their ugly heads.Although advertised as being similar to "Cinema Paradiso," it isn't in the same league. It has that depressing Chinese movie feeling. The many clips of old Chinese movies shown in it are dreary and unlikable themselves. The landscape and buildings are mostly depressing.In the end it picks up a little, but that doesn't redeem the movie. I consider myself to have been rooked into seeing this movie by the "Cinema Paradiso" comparison. The art movie theater in my town is empty most of the time. They need to stop lying to the customers. We'd come out to see the good art movies if we could tell which ones they were.