The Blue Kite

Tietou is born in a narrow Beijing alley in 1953. The film tells his childhood in three parts, each named for a man: father, uncle, stepfather. Each in turn enters the family's life and each in turn disappears. The reasons are not domestic: the Hundred Flowers Campaign, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution. History enters the house each time and takes someone with it. Tian Zhuangzhuang does not explain those periods; he shows the hole they leave in one apartment. The narrative stays in the child's vantage and the large events all happen outside the frame. When it became clear during production that the film would be banned, the producers smuggled the negative to Japan, where post-production was completed and the rights sold worldwide. It was banned in China and Tian was barred from making films for ten years. It is now counted among the most important works of China's Fifth Generation. Who it's for: Anyone interested in Chinese history, political narrative told through a family, and slow cinema. Who it's not for: It runs long and the telling is deliberately distanced. Some events will lack context if you do not know the period.