Last Train Home 2009

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Tells the story of a family caught, and possibly crushed, between the past and the future--a story that, on its own, is moving, even heartbreaking. Multiplied by 130 million, it becomes a terrifying and sobering panorama of the present. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: Doing double duty as the film's cinematographer, Fan demonstrates a pitch-perfect photojournalistic eye. Read more

Michael Upchurch, Seattle Times: Lixin Fan, handling his own cinematography, shoots with such a painterly eye that he almost undermines the social critique he's making. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: Lixin plays up the atmospheric underclass misery in service of a beautifully shot, heartbreaking verite narrative about generation gaps and culture clashes. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: What else do you want? The question echoes down every frame of this haunting film, and Fan doesn't pretend to have an answer. Read more

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader: Chinese-Canadian director Lixin Fan considers the social upheavals wrought by China's economic miracle. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Fan's camera moves sinuously through these people's lives and gives a human face to a national panorama. Read more

David Hines, Dallas Morning News: Last Train Home is a harrowing experience. Don't expect to come out smiling. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: This is essential viewing for understanding our world. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: An expert, unobtrusive observer, Fan disappears inside his own film and allows us to get completely inside his subjects' lives. Read more

V.A. Musetto, New York Post: Last Train Home is a startling look at the devastating human cost of China's newfound embrace of capitalism. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Fan's fly-on-the-wall perspective enables the viewer to empathize with all the players in the family drama, unlikely to have a happy ending. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Last Train Home suggests that the times they are a-changin'. The rulers of China may someday regret that they distributed the works of Marx so generously. Read more

G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle: Lixin Fan's Last Train Home is a remarkable documentary that, by following a family of factory workers during a three-year period, says a lot about China and its difficult transition to economic powerhouse. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Chinese-Canadian director Lixin Fan presents the human cost of China's economic rise in terms any parent or child can understand. Read more

James Adams, Globe and Mail: Last Train Home stands as an impressive feature debut from the thirtysomething Lixin Fan and a harbinger of more great documentary cinema. Read more

Leslie Felperin, Variety: Helmed by Fan Lixin, who also takes credits as d.p. and co-editor, the pic laudably adopts an intimate, personal approach to a subject -- hardworking Chinese garment workers -- that's been covered in more hectoring fashion elsewhere. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: Last Train Home is an intimate portrait of an unfathomable immensity, focusing on a single family caught up in the world's largest mass migration. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: It's depressing enough to watch this family's struggles with life. But their pain really hits home when you think that the pants you might be wearing could have contributed to it. Read more