15, 123 mins
A little flamboyance might have leavened the dourness of Shanghai Dreams. This semi-autobiographical story from Wang Xiaoshuai, the director of the more life- affirming Beijing Bicycle, focuses on the uprooted generation that moved from Shanghai to a remote province in southern China during the Maoist 1960s to build an inland industrial base prompted by fears of a Soviet invasion. Set in 1983, the film shows the tensions arising from a father’s determination to return to Shanghai while his teenage daughter, who hangs out with her more liberated best friend, is experiencing first love.
It’s all grey factories, sad dance halls and grim mountainous terrain with elopement and rape adding to the gloom. It strives to be poignant but sketchy characterisations make it hard to really care. A road trip to Shanghai might have helped.
IAN JOHNS