King of the Children : Plot, Cast, Reception Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

King of the Children

1987 film

1987 (1987)

Running time

107 minutesCountryChinaLanguageMandarin

King of the Children (Chinese: 孩子王; pinyin: Háizǐ Wáng) is a 1987 drama film directed by Chen Kaige and starring Chen Shaohua.^[1] The film was based on a novella of the same name by Ah Cheng. The film competed for the Palme D'Or at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival.^[2]

Plot

A young man is sent to teach at a rural school in a poverty stricken area of Yunnan province.

Cast

Chen Shaohua
Xie Yuan
Yang Xuewen

Reception

King of the Children received a highly positive review in Time Out, where a reviewer wrote, “There are echoes here of a film like Padre Padrone, but Chen's film is completely free of flabby humanist sentimentality. [...] By Chinese standards, this is film-making brave to the point of being visionary. By any standards, this follow-up to Yellow Earth and The Big Parade is also something like a masterpiece.”^[3]

References

^ Canby, Vincent (2009). "New York Times: King of the Children". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on 9 July 2009. Retrieved 17 August 2008.
^ "Festival de Cannes: King of the Children". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
^ "King of the Children, directed by Chen Kaige | Film review". Time Out London. Retrieved 3 July 2019.