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6.4/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.4/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Song of China remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have a soft spot for movies that feel like a faded photograph found in an attic, Song of China is worth a look. It’s not for the action-hungry crowd or anyone who needs a plot that moves at a breakneck speed.
Actually, if you find family dinner arguments stressful, you might want to skip this one. It’s heavy on the generational friction.
The whole thing hinges on a businessman trying to do the right thing by his dead father. Moving the whole extended family to the sticks sounds like a noble idea, but watching his adult children moan about missing the city is strangely relatable. They just want their fancy coffee and the noise of the streets, I guess.
There is this one moment where they’re all sitting around, and you can practically hear the resentment sizzling in the air. It’s not a loud argument, just that thick, uncomfortable silence that happens when nobody wants to be in the same room.
It reminded me a bit of the quiet domestic tension in Come to Dinner, though with a lot more dust and fewer dinner plates being thrown.
The movie drags in the middle, and I’ll admit I checked my watch. Sometimes the camera just lingers on a landscape shot, and you wonder if the reel got stuck. But then, you catch a look on someone's face—some small, hurt expression—and you're back in it.
It’s not a masterpiece, and it’s definitely not perfect. But it has this sincere, dusty heart that’s hard to completely dismiss. It feels like someone really cared about making this, even if the pacing is a bit of a disaster at times. 📽️
If you're in the mood for something that isn't loud, or aggressive, or trying to trick you with twists, this works. It’s just people, trying to figure out how to live together without driving each other totally crazy.