I Wish I Knew

Name: I Wish I Knew
Genre: History, Documentary
Released: January 24, 2020
Duration: 116 min
Rating: 83
Cast: Baomei Huang, Chia-Tung Lee, Danqing Chen, Han Han, Hsiao-hsien Hou

2020

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Universal acclaim based on 7 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 5 Ratings

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5.8

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Movie Details & Credits

Kino Lorber | Release Date: January 24, 2020 | Not Rated

Starring: Baomei Huang, Chia-Tung Lee, Danqing Chen, Han Han, Hsiao-hsien Hou, Hsin-i Chang, Mei-Ru Du, Michelangelo Antonioni, Ming-yi Fei, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Yindi Cao

Summary: Shanghai's past and present flow together in Jia Zhangke's poetic and poignant portrait of this fast-changing port city. Restoring censored images and filling in forgotten facts, Jia provides an alternative version of 20th century China's fraught history as reflected through life in the Yangtze city.He builds his narrative through a seriesShanghai's past and present flow together in Jia Zhangke's poetic and poignant portrait of this fast-changing port city. Restoring censored images and filling in forgotten facts, Jia provides an alternative version of 20th century China's fraught history as reflected through life in the Yangtze city.He builds his narrative through a series of eighteen interviews with people from all walks of life-politicians' children, ex-soldiers, criminals, and artists (including Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-hsien)-- while returning regularly to the image of his favorite lead actress, Zhao Tao, wandering through the Shanghai World Expo Park. (The film was commissioned by the World Expo, but is anything but a piece of straightforward civic boosterism.) A richly textured tapestry full of provocative juxtapositions. [Kino Lorber]… Expand

Director: Zhang Ke Jia

Genre(s): History, Documentary

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 116 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Guy Dixon

Jan 23, 2020

The pacing is steady. The stories are told simply, with zero affectation or buildup by the director. The effect is astonishing. Read full review

Manohla Dargis

Jan 23, 2020

In effect, with I Wish I Knew, Jia is building not just a portrait of a city, but of a fragmented people — one story and memory at a time. He is finding meaning in collective remembrance and revealing a world, to borrow a phrase from Walter Benjamin, “under the gaze of the melancholy man.” Read full review

Robert Abele

Feb 13, 2020

What ensues amidst Jia’s indelible, gliding visuals of modern Shanghai are ruminative testimonials from the breadth of an older citizenry — former soldiers, descendants of gangsters and politicians, and (lots of) artists who endured the city’s turbulent evolution, and who in their stories of family, love and survival form a tapestry of memory and wisdom. Read full review

Lawrence Garcia

Jan 22, 2020

Even in shortened form, I Wish I Knew can at times feel overly discursive. But its implications, particularly regarding the Cultural Revolution, are difficult to miss. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Glenn Kenny

Jan 24, 2020

Even without access to all that it references, I Wish I Knew functions as an admirable cinematic tone poem about a place and its times. Read full review

Richard Brody

Jan 23, 2020

Wondrous yet rueful views of the city, with its blend of grandeur and squalor, are anchored by the wanderings of an actress, Zhao Tao, whose mysterious role is clarified by one of the most anguished of testimonies. Read full review

The Film Stage Logan Kenny

Jan 23, 2020

The film is about the way we remember, from individuals looking back on the stories of life that their grandparents told them to the camera itself acting reflective of a time that’s destined to be finite. Read full review

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User Reviews

JLuis_001

Oct 12, 2022

Exceptional if you are willing to delve into its proposal, which can sometimes seem slow and too uniform. Especially if you are not at all interested in its themes.

It's like a poem, only the language is visual.

Stay away if commercial movies are your thing.

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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