Xiao cheng zhi chun 2002

G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle: Only a director who truly knows repression could have made a movie so subtle and so understanding. Read more

Manohla Dargis, Los Angeles Times: This isn't a radical film by any means, but in its gentle tempo, its avoidance of the obvious and stubborn insistence on the decency of its three touchingly human characters, 'Springtime in a Small Town' weighs in as refreshingly, pleasurably different. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Reinventing his source just as boldly as he has reinvented his artistic identity, Tian circumvents the usual mentality of remakes by making his material brand-new. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Each frame is as delicately poised and lit as a Vermeer portrait of a woman, beckoning but unknowable. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: A movie that drifts across the screen with the delicacy of linen floating on a warm breeze, whose slow, sensual camera movements are like tiptoes on rice paper, yet which can sting us with the suddenness of a bee concealed in clover. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: A film made with intelligence and craftsmanship. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: Although its tone is more dreamy than steamy, this film oddly seems a product from the same heated template as a William Inge or Tennessee Williams drama of the early 1950's. Read more

Orlando Sentinel: Springtime in a Small Town moves at a leisurely pace. And because it's a work of taste and tact, you can watch it in a pleasurable state. Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: The result is paradoxically more theatrical than the original -- but thanks to serene cinematography and superb design, sumptuously so. Read more

David Stratton, Variety: Exquisitely made love story, which marks the welcome return after 10 years of inactivity by director Tian Zhuangzhuang. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: Tian gets superbly nuanced performances from an inexperienced cast and choreographs his ensemble scenes with considerable self-assurance. Read more