Summer Palace
Palm Pictures | Release Date: January 18, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
79
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
In Summer Palace Lou nonetheless succeeds in finding a cinematic language that does more than summarize the important events of a confusing decade. He distills the inner confusion -- the swirl of moods, whims and needs -- that is the lived and living essence of history. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen Johnson
The most important mainland Chinese film this decade. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
For director Lou Ye, who also co-wrote the script and was a student in Beijing during that crucial year, Summer Palace is the story of his particular lost generation, a story he felt so deeply about he risked his career to tell it. Search out this vivid film in a theater. Don't let the sacrifices he made be in vain. Read full review
88
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
It's a bit like a Chinese "Splendor In The Grass." Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
A fascinating and frustrating film in turns, created out of scorching passions and built around a fascinating performance but rambling and choppy in the telling. It can overwhelm you and puzzle and repel you, sometimes within moments. Read full review
80
The New YorkerDavid Denby
In truth, I’ve never seen so much lovemaking in an aboveground film, but the revelation, and great triumph, of Lou’s work is that these scenes are never pornographic--that is, never separated from emotion. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
Jolting narrative ellipses sometimes threatens to bring the whole house of cards tumbling down. What never lessens is the movie's rapturous eroticism, and the exquisite longing in each one of Yu Hong's sideways glances. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
The bureaucrats in Beijing want to get rid of the sex and full-frontial nudity and scenes of cops beating protesters in Tiananmen Square. I would keep all that but cut out some of the flab in the second half of the 140-minute drama. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderShelly Kraicer
Lou's mobile camera captures the flushed energy of the faces and bodies of beautiful youths in love with all the verve and commitment of the early French New Wave. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
At the heart of the film is a powerful performance by the beautiful and most promising Hao Lei as its tempestuous, complex heroine. Read full review
60
VarietyDerek Elley
Fourth feature by Mainland helmer Lou Ye ("Suzhou River," "Purple Butterfly") shoots for metaphysical drama but ends up saying very little beneath all the poetic voiceovers, sexual encounters and political seasoning. Read full review
50
Village VoiceJulia Wallace
The director is at his best portraying the dingy dorms and vivid idealism of college life; his film stalls when it meanders away from these particulars toward a sweeping but empty attempt at the epic. Read full review
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