I just saw this at Downtown Los Angeles Film Festival, on the big screen of Regal LA Live theater. It's incredibly well-shot film that connects time, distance and culture. You could describe this movie as an "impressionistic", because the film seems to be focused on "how we feel", but not "what we see".
Writer/Director Rain Li comes from a background in cinematography. She collaborated with renowned cinematographer Christopher Doyle on twelve projects. She collaborated with internationally renowned directors, including Jim Jarmusch, Gus Van Sant and Mike Figgis. One of her films, "Paranoid Park," by Gus Van Sant, received the "Special 60th Anniversary Prize of the International Cannes Film Festival" in 2007. "Beijing New York" is her directorial debut that she also made with the collaboration with Christopher Doyle.
This story looks like a very personal for the director. It flows like a meditation, full of beautiful and sad memories. As a feature debut, this film full of imperfections peculiar to emerging directors, especially in characters development, however all actors are good fit for the film. The cinematography and the production design nothing less than visual delight and seem as the most powerful part of the film. The soundtrack is very moody and makes you cry sometime. So if you like moody films, if you can handle long takes and slow narrative (so rare nowadays), and if you care about high end cinematography - you will NOT be disappointed.
