70
Metascore
5 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100CineVueCineVueWang's film is as bewildering and heartbreaking as it is insightful, in its depiction of the daily existence of the institution's residents.
- 88Slant MagazineJames LattimerSlant MagazineJames LattimerWang Bing intends to give back to the inmates the opportunity for individual expression that society has robbed them of.
- 70Village VoiceMichael AtkinsonVillage VoiceMichael AtkinsonYou don't watch prolific doc-master Wang Bing's new film about a Chinese mental hospital so much as get imprisoned within it, pacing its dingy corridors and rooms like a zoo animal.
- 70The New York TimesBen KenigsbergThe New York TimesBen KenigsbergThis overlong (nearly four hours) but sporadically extraordinary portrait of a forgotten corner of society may be tough going even for fans of forbidding cinema.
- 60VarietyJustin ChangVarietyJustin ChangAs the hours roll slowly past, it’s hard not to feel that this epic achievement in monotonous misery might have retained its impact at a fraction of the length, and that even our grimmest truth-tellers might well find themselves capable of saying more with less.