The Golden Era (2014)

The life story of Xiao Hong, one of China's most famous essayists and novelists, who reflected the progressive thinking not frequently seen during the 1930s.

Director:

Ann Hui

Writer:

Qiang Li

Stars:

Wei Tang, Shaofeng Feng, Zhiwen Wang

24 wins & 43 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Wei Tang	...	Xiao Hong
Shaofeng Feng	...	Xiao Jun
Zhiwen Wang	...	Lu Xun
Yawen Zhu	...	Duanmu Hongliang
Xuan Huang	...	Luo Binji
Lei Hao	...	Ding Lin
Quan Yuan	...	Mei Zhi
Yuan Tian	...	Bai Lang (as TT Tian)
Jiali Ding	...	Madam Xu Guangping
Qianyuan Wang	...	Nie Gannu
Yi Sha	...	Shu Qun
Feng Zu	...	Luo Feng
Yi Zhang	...	Jiang Xijin
Lei Feng	...	Hu Feng
Wenkang Yuan	...	Wang Enjia

Storyline

The life of Chinese writer Xiao Hong, from her childhood in the Heilongjiang Province to her final days in Hong Kong's Repulse Bay. The love of the author's life, newspaper editor Xiao Jun and the inspiration she drew from him as well as the surrounding literary scene in creating some of China's most enduring masterpieces is explored against the backdrop of a turbulent time that included the formation of the Chinese Communist government and World War II.

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Plot Keywords:

life | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Romance

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Shaofeng Feng learned that Wei Tang fasted to simulate her character's state of hunger that depicted in the scripts. He also tried to do the same and fast, but ended up fainted and failed.

User Reviews

A film failed miserably by the following flaws:

1) A very bad script with poor arrangement of storyline, scenes, characters appearances, boring narration, extended unnecessary anecdotes.

There seems not enough stuff to fulfill the biopic, so the screenplay writer just keeps blabbering lot of boring segments of the heroine's uninterested enough background back story. The heroine died at 31 years old, so there's not a lot to tell but pumped a lot of yada yada to make it longer. A very poorly scripted screenplay, trying so hard to say something but ended up telling nothing and nothing worthwhile telling.

2) A movie directed by a too old, too traditionally grabbed director, who could only direct the film with her formulaic ways of directing with similar paces and prescription. She has received many awards but never could get rid of her rigid, one way directing habits. A habitual burden pressed down almost all of her films, long, straight line one direction narrative, randomly arranged scenes forced to patch up with flashbacks, jump-around plots, young and old images of the same character. Too traditional way of directing that not catching up the modern way of viewing paces and tempos of the present audiences. A slow-like-hell pace that only nicotine pills might keep the viewers awakening enough to make the ticket fare worth.

3) Very poor editing. The director obviously always sticks to her peer of editors who got the same problems of evolving with time. This film suffered too many back-and-forth patch-up scenes.

4) Too many unnecessary scenes and worthless unimportant anecdotes or incidents, like a randomly patched up quilt with many unrelated pieces of clothes.

5) Pumped into this boring film with lot of historical literary characters, trying to get the audiences connected, but ended up in a nothing but Zzzzzz meh big yawn.

Details

Country:

China Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin

Release Date:

1 October 2014 (China)

Also Known As:

The Golden Era

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$50,242, 19 October 2014

Gross USA:

$102,931

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$8,408,968

Company Credits

Production Co:

Stellar Mega Films, China Film Group Corporation (CFGC), Edko Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

177 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1