Up the Yangtze 2007

Stephen Holden, New York Times: An astonishing documentary of culture clash and the erasure of history amid China's economic miracle. Read more

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader: Visually stunning, this documentary by Chinese-Canadian filmmaker Yung Chang is part travelogue, part social critique of China's economic miracle and the sweeping cultural changes it is forcing in its wake. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: The tone is finally one of wistful resignation. Read more

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: Up The Yangtze goes from sleepily hypnotic to riveting over the course of 90 minutes. Read more

Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic: The movie never editorializes; it simply presents. It is tragedy, not statistics. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: In his masterful and haunting documentary Up the Yangtze, Yung Chang shows the old China drowning helplessly under the weight of the new. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Filmmaker Yung Chang finds a sad and beautiful way to glimpse the big picture of dislocation through an exquisitely poised small study. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: One of the real pluses of Up the Yangtze, aside from its empathy with its subjects, is its striking visual quality. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: By journey's end, Chang has found, in the Yangtze, a brilliant natural metaphor for upward mobility in modern China: Whether they hail from the lowlands or the urban centers, everyone here is scrambling to reach higher ground. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Its range of subjects and emotions cuts a surprisingly wide swath. Read more

V.A. Musetto, New York Post: China's public image suffers another blow with Up the Yangtze, a docu mentary by Chinese-Canadian Yung Chang. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: Just where is China taking us besides up the Yangtze River? Mr. Yung's film does not even pretend to know, and that is its great strength as it plunges more deeply into the truly unknown. Read more

Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer: Myth and reality, past and present, tradition and progress go head to head in Yung Chang's remarkable documentary about China's longest river, Up the Yangtze. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Yung Chang is a Canadian director whose grandparents came from China, and his witty, lovely and profoundly unsettling documentary Up the Yangtze takes him back to the legendary river of his grandfather's homeland, now transformed beyond recognition. Read more

G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle: What Chinese Canadian filmmaker Yung Chang achieves in his documentary Up the Yangtze is remarkable. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Yung Chang's always illuminating, often heart-rending, documentary. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: [Director Yung Chang] and lenser Wang Shi Qing use powerful images, subtlety and a little humour to apprise the viewer of the human and cultural issues at stake. Read more

Hank Sartin, Time Out: Read more

David Fear, Time Out: Read more

John Anderson, Variety: A gloriously cinematic doc of epic, poetic sadness. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: There's plenty for the director to focus on. Examining the dam's environmental impact alone would take another whole movie. Instead, [director] Yung trains his lens mainly on the cultural impact. Read more