73
Metascore
22 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100New York Daily NewsJami BernardNew York Daily NewsJami BernardIt's an uplifting movie about the rewards of perseverance and community.
- 100Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaPhiladelphia InquirerSteven ReaHas a slow-burning emotional power.
- 91Portland OregonianShawn LevyPortland OregonianShawn LevyIf it touches up against the syrupy at a very few moments, it's nevertheless consistently clear-eyed and convincing.
- 80Village VoiceLeslie CamhiVillage VoiceLeslie CamhiThe film's occasional dips into sentimental cuteness and its too-pat ending can't cancel the gap that yawns ever wider between rural and urban society.
- 80L.A. WeeklyF. X. FeeneyL.A. WeeklyF. X. FeeneyZhang's work is always worth watching, but this is the first of his films in which the sorrows are so heart-rending, its many comic moments so laugh-out-loud human.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertHis story is simple, unadorned, direct. Only the margins are complicated.
- 75Miami HeraldMiami HeraldZhang, who tried to make his actors as unaware of the camera as possible, lets the story evolve slowly and deliberately.
- 70TV Guide MagazineKen FoxTV Guide MagazineKen FoxThis is much more than a typically one-dimensional message-movie -- it's obviously the work of a master filmmaker .
- 60Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonAt first, the picture is moving. . And suddenly charm turns to quasi-commie didacticism.
- 40Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumChicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumIts resolution reeks of phoniness and self-congratulation, even if some of the narrative strands leading up to it are fairly absorbing.