Country: China
Language: Chinese
Year: 2002
Running Time: 120 min
After a long, harsh, dark winter, at last springtime has come to a small town in Southern China. The year is 1946 and the war had come and gone leaving a mark everywhere on the psyche of the people and a pitted and devastated landscape. A semblance of normalcy has just returned.
At the Dai family house, a once grand but now dilapidated traditional courtyard home, life has resumed its slow and leisurely pace. However, with the arrival of springtime there are stirrings within the walls of the house, which are soon to test the limits of love, commitment, lust and sacrifice. Dai Liyan, the head of the household is young but very sickly, while his wife Yu Wan is dutiful, but vibrant, beautiful and frustrated. Liyan's sixteen-year-old sister Xiu also lives with them, and they are assisted in the home by the long-time family housekeeper, Old Huang.
Unexpectedly one day a visitor shows up at the house. He is Zhang Zhichen, a former classmate of Liyan's and now a doctor based in Shanghai who has been travelling around China for a number of years. As big as China is, it proves to be a small world when it turns out that the good doctor was also a "neighbour" of Yu Wan's prior to her marriage. It is a joyous occasion for all; or is it?
Within days, the meaning of friendship, trust, honor, and the stirrings of lust, passion and sexuality all show their face -- only to be thrown together in a bubbling cauldron of unpredictable results within the seemingly serene walls of the Dai family residence.
Imagine all of this, during, springtime in a small town.
|
Director
|
Tian Zhuangzhuang
|
|
Producer
|
Xiao Wan Li
|
|
Producer
|
Yat Ming Tang
|
|
Executive Producer
|
Bu Ting Yang
|
|
Executive Producer
|
San Ping Han
|
|
Executive Producer
|
Shao Hong Li
|
|
Executive Producer
|
Bill Kong
|
|
Associate Producer
|
Wouter Barendrecht
|
|
Associate Producer
|
Eric Huemann
|
|
Associate Producer
|
Marc Sillam
|
|
Associate Producer
|
Alain Vannier
|
|
Associate Producer
|
Michael J. Werner
|
|
Production Company
|
China Film Group
|
|
Production Company
|
Beijing Film Studio
|
|
Screenplay
|
Ah Cheng
|
|
Cinematography
|
Mark LEE Ping-Bing
|
|
Production Design
|
Kam Tim Yip
|
|
Music
|
Zhao Li
|
|
Editor
|
Jianping Xu
|
|
Sound
|
Jiajin Lu
|
|
Costume Designer
|
Kam Tim Yip
|
|
Hu Jing Fan
|
as Yu Wen, the wife
|
|
Wu Jun
|
as Dai Li-yan, the husband
|
|
Xin Bai Qing
|
as Zhang Zhi-chen, the visitor
|
|
Ye Xiao Keng
|
as Lao Huang, the retainer
|
|
Lu Si Si
|
as Dai Xiu, the sister
|
From the Director of THE BLUE KITE, THE GO MASTER, THE WARRIOR AND THE WOLF, Best Film Upstream Competition Venice; Don Quichoe Award - Tromso Film Festival; Golden Rooster- Best Sound
Tian Zhuangzhuang is a former cameraman and graduate of the Beijing Film Academy. He has directed numerous renowned films like THE GO MASTER (2006); SPRINGTIME IN A SMALL TOWN (2002); THE BLUE KITE (1993); LI LIANYING, THE IMPERIAL EUNUCH (1991); HORSE THIEF (1986) and ON THE HUNTING GROUND (1985). One of the leading figures of the ‘Fifth Generation’, Tian won large audiences in Europe and North America starting in 1985 with HORSE THIEF (1985), which is still regarded as one of the cornerstones of ‘Fifth Generation’ film-making.
Tian has been in and out of trouble with the authorities for his controversial movies. He was ‘black-listed’ after The Blue Kite, a film that was shot soon after the 1989 Tiananmen Incident, launched in 1991 at the Director's Fortnight in Cannes against the order of the Chinese Film Bureau. In 2002, Tian returned as a director with Springtime in a SmalL TOWN, the winner of the San Marco Prize at the 59th Venice Film Festival. In 2003, he set up BDI Films Inc. in Beijing focusing on film production with the next generation of directors.
2009 WARRIOR AND THE WOLF
2006 THE GO MASTER
2004 DELAMU
2002 SPRINGTIME IN A SMALL TOWN
1993 THE BLUE KITE
1991 LI LIANGYING, THE IMPERIAL EUNUCH
1987 FOLK ARTISTS
1986 HORSE THIEF
1985 ON THE KILLING GROUND
1984 SEPTEMBER
1983 THE SUMMER EXPERIENCE
1980 OUR CORNER