24 City
Cinema Guild | Release Date: June 5, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
75
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
3
Negative:
1

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
The stories we hear in 24 City belong to its specific place, but they are universal. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
The new film, shot in vivid hi-def video, is part documentary and part fiction based on interviews; it uses on-camera interviews with workers, some played by themselves and some played by actors, to evoke a past of unimaginable toil, and suffering, in the service of the Communist state. Read full review
90
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
The actors in 24 City bring their own existential realities to their short, touching performances. In the end, the deep emotions they stir up -- the actress Lv Liping delivers a harrowing story about a lost child -- constitute another kind of monument to the workers of Factory 420. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Beautiful and challenging documentary. Read full review
80
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Jia Zhangke is one of the world's preeminent filmmakers, an essentially contemplative director whose considerable talent is further amplified by the significance of his material--namely, everyday life in the most dynamic economy on earth. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
The result is surprisingly engrossing -- even lively, due in part to brief musical numbers inserted amid the interviews. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
If this is an unusually sentimental outing for Jia, it’s also characteristically tinged with woe. He’s just added a touch of sweetness to these otherwise sugarless lives. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterMaggie Lee
The only thing might have added variety and richness to the film would be the inclusion of more dialogues or interactions with more than one person. Read full review
60
VarietyDerek Elley
Result is far more accessible than Jia's previous two pictures, with moments of genuine emotion by the real-life interviewees. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Mostly, 24 City falls into the same Jia trap of inadvertently drawing the viewers' gaze past his human subjects and to the poetic images of a country in painful metamorphosis. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen Johnson
The director's most painfully slow movie yet. Read full review
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