Springtime in a Small Town
Palm Pictures | Release Date: May 14, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
86
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The GuardianPeter Bradshaw
It is a beautifully acted, exquisitely considered chamber drama of subtlety and nuance: spellbindingly tender and utterly involving Read full review
100
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Tian's movie seems to be among the finest expressions of the Chinese new wave. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
For Tian, who was banned from directing by Chinese authorities for a decade, it marks a triumphant return; for those who have loved the filmmaker's work in the past, few resurrections have seemed as welcome. Read full review
90
VarietyDavid Stratton
Exquisitely made love story. Read full review
90
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
Simply put, it represents the work of a filmmaker so exhilaratingly in command of his craft that he can, among other things, turn a single image of two people standing next to each other -- fully clothed, their bodies not quite touching -- into one of the most sublimely erotic moments we have ever beheld on the screen. Read full review
90
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
This erotically charged drama may not be quite as great as the original, but it's an amazing and beautiful work just the same. Read full review
88
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Can be summed up in one word: style. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
There's a painterly translucence to this ''Springtime,'' and a mystery, too; each frame is as delicately poised and lit as a Vermeer portrait of a woman, beckoning but unknowable. Read full review
80
EmpireStaff [Not Credited]
Beautifully photographed by Mark Lee (who also co-shot Wong Kar-Wai's In The Mood For Love), and delicately played by an untried cast, this confirms Tian as the Fifth Generation's unsung master. Read full review
80
The New York TimesStephen Holden
As Mark Li Ping-bing's beautiful cinematography observes the change of season, the movie becomes a broader meditation on rebirth, and how, in the language of T. S. Eliot, April, the month that stirs such hopes for the future, is also "the cruellest month" for awakening such keen desire. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen Johnson
Only a director who truly knows repression could have made a movie so subtle and so understanding. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterRichard James Havis
Should please art house buffs across the board. Connoisseurs of Chinese film will be pleased to discover that Tian's meticulous talent has not withered during his enforced hiatus. Moviegoers who like their visions of China rarefied and past tense will delight in the careful period setting. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
A beautiful, slow-motion melodrama. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Has the suffocating intensity of great chamber drama. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineEd Gonzalez
The film exudes a sense of fleetingness; however static these lives may be, Tian's narrative perfectly evokes a changing season. Read full review
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