Xiao cai feng (2002)

Director:

Sijie Dai

Writers:

Sijie Dai (novel)
Sijie Dai (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

9 October 2002 (France)

Genre:

Biography | Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

Two youths sent for a Maoist "re-education" in the mountains fall in love with the village tailor's granddaughter.

Plot Keywords:

Flashback Sequence | Narrative | Cinema | Village Life | Labor Camp

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 5 nominations

Cast

Xun Zhou	...	Little Chinese Seamstress
Kun Chen	...	Luo
Ye Liu	...	Ma
Shuangbao Wang	...	Head of the Village
Zhijun Cong	...	Old Tailor
Hong Wei Wang	...	Four Eyes
Xiong Xiao	...	Mother of Four Eyes
Zuohui Tang	...	Old Mill Worker
Wei Chen	...	Wife of the Head of the Village
Tianlu Chen	...	Director of the Village
Qing-yun Fan	...	Doctor

Directed by
Sijie Dai

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Sijie Dai		novel
Sijie Dai		screenplay
Nadine Perront		writer

Produced by
Lise Fayolle	....	producer
Bernard Lorain	....	executive producer
Pujian Wang	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Pujian Wang

Cinematography by
Jean-Marie Dreujou

Film Editing by
Luc Barnier
Julia Gregory

Production Design by
Juiping Cao

Costume Design by
Huamiao Tong

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Chunlin Zhao	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Jean De Sagey	....	sound recordist
Sylvain Malbrant	....	assistant sound editor
Nicolas Naegelen	....	sound mixer
Nicolas Naegelen	....	sound
Daniel Sobrino	....	sound
Lala Wu	....	sound

Visual Effects by
Stephane Bidault	....	digital effects supervisor
Pierre Blain	....	digital effects director
Christophe Chanvin	....	artistic director

Production Companies

• Les Films de la Suane
• TF1 Films Productions

Distributors

• Empire Pictures (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Empire Pictures (2005) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Ager 3 (2004) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Albatros Film
• Bac Films (France)
• Empire Pictures Inc. (2005) (USA) (all media)
• Filmcoopi Zürich (2002) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Gativideo (2004) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Gativideo (2004) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Intercinema Art Agency (Russia)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2004) (Germany) (DVD)
• Millennium Storm (2004) (Italy) (video)
• Schwarz/Weiss Filmverleih (2003) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Soda Pictures (UK)
• Telexcel (2003-????) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• YLE Teema (2007) (Finland) (TV)

Special Effects

• AutreChose

Other Companies

• Warmflash Productions Ltd.  trailer

Also Known As:

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (UK) (USA)
Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise (France)
The Little Chinese Seamstress (International: English title)

Runtime:

110 min | France:116 min (Cannes Film Festival)

Country:

France | China

Language:

Mandarin | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Switzerland:12 (canton of Zurich) | Malaysia:U | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | France:U | Germany:o.Al. | Norway:11 | Philippines:PG-13 | Spain:13 | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12A | Canada:A (Ontario)

Company:

Les Films de la Suane

lack of ups and downs and emotional scenes.

overall, this is a good movie. the scenery is very nice to look at, so out of this world. I found two mistakes. 1. both them speak with dialects. Then when one of the guy were talking to a local folksong singer, all of sudden, he started to talk in perfect mandarin which doesn't make sense. 2. At the end of the movie, the guy actually jumped into the water, and searched for the dead person's name among all those paper boats which seem to be fake. He could have just asked people about it.

The markup artists are great. They were able to change those two young men into middle age men without any obvious fake decorations.

I didn't think that it was necessary for those two characters to speak heavy dialects at all. If they are from the city, they should know how to speak the national language - Mandarin. It is so hard to understand those people, I had to read the English subtitles.

I also like the ending which seems like a copy from Titanic. It was well done.

That period of time was a tragic time. This movie could have a little more tear jerking moment, etc. It doesn't have any. And it also did not show us any dark side of the communist party, the craziness people get into.