Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue
Cinema Guild | Release Date: May 28, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Film ThreatSabina Dana PlasseOct 5, 2021
The writings of Ma Feng appear to have evoked much of the themes Zhangke captures in his beautiful story and its surface simplicity and deeper subtext. Although it is a bit lengthy, Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue is a well-done and beautifully expressed film for understanding a people and their history. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangMay 28, 2021
The rhythms are uneven, the patterns of meaning often elusive. But they coalesce into a moving glimpse of lives lived and artistic legacies forged in the shadow — and sometimes the harsh, glaring light — of momentous historical change. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. ScottMay 27, 2021
The movie is an affecting group portrait and also a complex and subtle piece of literary criticism. Read full review
80
TheWrapRobert AbeleMay 25, 2021
If Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue and its intimate tapestry of peasant fortitude and artistic endeavor won’t be as immediately resonant to audiences outside of China as his expansive masterpieces “A Touch of Sin” or “Still Life” are, it’s still a valuable document. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyMay 28, 2021
If you’re not too conversant with the regions or works under consideration, the viewer has a choice of laboring to connect the dots unassisted, or just kicking back and letting the people and their recollections and philosophical reflections wash over you, like the sea of the movie’s title. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyMay 27, 2021
Across the extended, handsomely shot sit-down interviews (with Ma’s daughter and the three other writers), what emerges is a fragmentary oral history of Chinese rural life across several transformative decades of the 20th century: family stories, tragedies, remembered slogans, the particulars of trying to grow crops in alkaline soil or coming of age as the son of a declared “counterrevolutionary.” Read full review
75
The Film StageRory O'ConnorFeb 28, 2020
Jia’s earnest approach has always been endearing and Swimming Out sees it in full flight. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungFeb 28, 2020
It’s the opposite of sensational; quiet, dignified and ruminative, it gets far closer to real Chinese people than a TV-style travelogue, though its many references to events in modern Chinese history will probably lose the casual viewer. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineChris BarsantiSep 10, 2020
Jia Zhang-ke’s film is a quietly reflective, intermittently rambling rumination on an explosively momentous period in Chinese history. Read full review
50
Screen DailyWendy IdeFeb 28, 2020
Meditative and meandering, this handsomely shot but unfocused picture might present something of a challenge to all but the most dedicated students of Chinese cultural history. Read full review
50
VarietyGuy LodgeFeb 28, 2020
The result, though intermittently stirring and often luminously shot, represents something of a chore for all but the most ardent Jia completists — and even some of them may be left adrift by the literary scope of a film that does surprisingly little to contextualize its subjects for viewers unfamiliar with their work. Read full review
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