- EIFF 2019: ANIARA is a Deeply Haunting Sci-Fi Experience [Review]
- Darkstar Pictures Announces Free Online Film Festival!
- Stunning First Look at Indie Fantasy THE WANTING MARE [Trailer]
- Stunning First Look at Indie Fantasy THE WANTING MARE [Trailer]
- Stunning First Look at Indie Fantasy THE WANTING MARE [Trailer]
- SKYLINES Is Coming! [Poster Premiere]
- Who Hunts Who in HUNTER HUNTER? [Trailer]
- MONSTER HUNTER Coming for Christmas [Trailer]
- Saskatoon Fantastic Film Festival Returns with In-Person Event [Line Up]
- LUNATIQUE Director Returns with WASTELAND 3 Promo [Short Film]
- Re: Occupation, Australian Sci Fi movie
- Slice of Life, Blade Runner inspired short
- Is Snowpeircer a sequel to Willy Wonka?
- Re: Yesterday
- Re: Yesterday
- Yesterday
- Re: White Night (or where do I get my 30 + from now?)
- Re: White Night (or where do I get my 30 + from now?)
- Re: White Night (or where do I get my 30 + from now?)
- Re: White Night (or where do I get my 30 + from now?)
- BERLINALE 2021: TIDES Comes After Hell [Trailer]
- LUNATIQUE Director Returns with WASTELAND 3 Promo [Short Film]
- A Comet Destoys Earth in GREENLAND Trailer
- Interactive WAR OF THE WORLDS Adaptation Out Now!
- 8K Trailer for Train to Busan Sequel PENINSULA Drops Hard!
- Making a Bomb Shelter in a Funhouse is a Bad Idea in IMPACT EVENT [Trailer]
- Retro Slave: FOX's Post-Apocalyptic Sitcom WOOPS!
- TRAIN TO BUSAN Sequel PENINSULA Gets a Teaser Trailer
- New on Blu-ray and DVD for March 11, 2020
- The Apocalypse Kills Women in ONLY [Trailer]
- Trailer for TheWalking Dead: World Beyond Spin-Off Series
- SATOR is a Welcome Addition to the Folk Horror Canon [Review]
- Women in Horror Month: NEAR DARK
- SOUTHLAND TALES: The Cannes Cut [Review]
- A Woman's Mind Unravels in BIGHT HILL ROAD [Review]
- TIFF 2020: Vanlife Gets a Reality Check in NOMADLAND [Review]
- TIFF 2020: APPLES, THE WAY I SEE IT, PIECES OF A WOMAN & ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI [Capsule Reviews]
- TIFF 2020: The Truth Tellers Return with THE NEW CORPORATION: THE UNFORTUNATELY NECESSARY SEQUEL [Review]
- TIFF 2020: NEW ORDER is Brutal, Violent & a Must-See [Review]
- TIFF 2020: ENEMIES OF THE STATE, Or Are They? [Review]
- TIFF 2020: HOLLER Explores Life in a Dying Town [Review]
- 2067 Director Talks Inspiration, Environment & Time Travel [Interview]
- THE STRANGERS Director Returns with THE DARK AND THE WICKED [Trailer]
- Michael Shannon is Crime Boss in ECHO BOOMERS [Trailer]
- Hair Extensions Get Horrific in BAD HAIR [Trailer]
- TIFF 2020: Vanlife Gets a Reality Check in NOMADLAND [Review]
- VIFF 2020: Sobriety, Reintegration & Telekinesis Come Together in THE CURSE OF WILLOW SONG [Interview]
- VIFF 2020: Revenge Thriller Re-Examined in VIOLATION [Interview]
- VIFF2020: Director Loretta Todd on the Making of Her Debut Feature MONKEY BEACH [Interview]
- TIFF 2020: APPLES, THE WAY I SEE IT, PIECES OF A WOMAN & ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI [Capsule Reviews]
- TIFF 2020: The Truth Tellers Return with THE NEW CORPORATION: THE UNFORTUNATELY NECESSARY SEQUEL [Review]
- TIFF 2020: NEW ORDER is Brutal, Violent & a Must-See [Review]
- TIFF 2020: ENEMIES OF THE STATE, Or Are They? [Review]
- NO ESCAPE Director Talks Influencers, Escape Rooms & Writing [Interview]
- TIFF 2020: HOLLER Explores Life in a Dying Town [Review]
- The Funny Side of Alien Invasions: You have to SAVE YOURSELVES! [Trailer]
- Kodi Smit-McPhee Goes to the Future to Save the Present in 2067 [Trailer]
- First Look at Denis Villeneuve's DUNE [Trailer]
- Fantasia 2020: LAPSIS, THE COLUMNIST, MINOR PREMISE, FEELS GOOD MAN & HAIL TO THE DEADITES [Capsule Reviews]
- BUNRAKU Writer/Director Returns with LX 2048 [Trailer]
- BLOOD QUANTUM Writer/Director Talks Inspiration, Zombies & Representation [Interview]
Jack In
Latest Comments
Latest Forum Posts
PA News
Latest Reviews
Older News
Crew
Marina Antunes
Editor in Chief
Vancouver, British Columbia
Christopher Webster
Managing Editor
Edmonton, Alberta
DN aka quietearth
Founder / Asst. Managing Editor
Denver, Colorado
Simon Read
UK Correspondent
Edinburgh, Scotland
Rick McGrath
Toronto Correspondent
Toronto, Ontario
Manuel de Layet
France Correspondent
Paris, France
rochefort
Austin Correspondent
Austin, Texas
Daniel Olmos
Corrispondente in Italia
Italy
Griffith Maloney aka Griffith Maloney
New York Correspondent
New York, NY
Stephanie O
Floating Correspondent
Quiet Earth Bunker
Jason Widgington
Montreal Correspondent
Montreal, Quebec
Carlos Prime
Austin Correspondent
Austin, TX
Latest news










Year: 2009
Directors: Xiaolu Guo
Writers: Xiaolu Guo
IMDB: link
Trailer: link
Review by: Linus de Paoli
Rating: 7 out of 10
The winner of this year's Golden Leopard, She, a Chinese is also the last film I saw in Locarno. A large European co-production between the UK, France and Germany, She, A Chinese was mostly shot in China and London. Hence, it's a truly multicultural film in production as well as in story.
Li Mei is a young woman from a small Chinese province. She hates her life as a fieldworker and doesn’t want to marry the man her mother has chosen. After being raped by a truck driver, she decides to take off and start a new life in the big city. Unfortunately, she is met with even more hardship. When she gets kicked out of her factory job, she finds work in a shady, red light district barbershop that offers more than just haircuts. That is where she meets “Spikey,†a slightly crazy wannabe-veteran, and falls in love with him. But nothing in Li’s life last too long… Her journey continues and leads her to London, where she has to deal with a host of new problems – and men.
Without giving anything away I can say that the film leads to an open end. It follows a very epic structure, telling its loose story in numbered episodes. Despite the absence of a classic dramatic structure, it is pretty interesting to follow Li Mei on her journey in spite of the fact that I didn’t like her character. Her beauty makes her attractive to all kinds of men, but to me she always remained a rather distant person. She rarely expresses her feelings and seems to be in a bad mood most of the time. It is not a love story, although love is a topic that comes up a lot. She has very different relationships with multiple, very different men. Every lover projects something different onto her: The country girl, the whore, the younger woman and, of course, the Chinese.
What I enjoyed most about Xiaolu Guo’s film is the frequent change of location. The family life in the conservative countryside gives a completely different impression of modern China than the anonymous concrete jungle of the city that Li Mei moves to first. And although I have been to London a couple of times, I have never seen it from the angle presented here.
Never the less, it is a worthy winner for sure, but not my favourite film in competition this year. After a while it gets repetitive and you wonder how long it will take until Li Mei moves on. It’s not boring, but not exactly enthralling either. What does this bad-tempered girl wants out of life? This film doesn’t really answer this question as Li does not know herself, but whatever she experiences is obviously not enough – so she has to keep moving. It’s an interesting and sometimes even fascinating study. Maybe a bit too far away from myself, so that I could enjoy it, but never truly relate to it.
That’s it for Locarno 09, it sure was a pleasure!
You might also like








Hal (11 years ago) Reply
thanks for review, I want to see this