"One of the greatest recent films!” "The film is a masterwork of a rare sort, perhaps of a unique sort."

- New Yorker

"Powerfully Absorbing!" “An act of solemn, disciplined and passionate protest.”

- New York Times

"Hu paints a picture of existential malaise with such a fine-tuned control of mood, imagery and pacing that the end result resembles a marriage of Jia Zhangke and Bela Tarr."

- Screen Daily

"The confidence and proficiency of Hu’s cinematic expression astonishes."

- The Film Stage

"The feature proves a delicately layered, deftly shot work that makes an incisive statement about the prevalence of apathy, arrogance and egotism in contemporary China and beyond.”

- Screen Daily

“The film’s images extricate beauty from the most dismal of situations and together with his actors, all of whom deliver performances of astounding sensitivity, Hu manages to evoke emotions so deeply felt and overwhelming, they compensate for any narrative contrivances.”

- Sight and Sound