My Memories of Old Beijing

Wu Yigong's almost dream-like re-creation of a young girl's Beijing childhood is often like memory itself, impressionistic, anecdotal and resonant in its initially disassociated detail; and because this framework eschews a direct, linear narrative, Wu neatly sidesteps the melodramatic conventions of much Chinese cinema. The result is an immensely accessible and often tender film, sometimes betrayed by its visual and stylistic ambition but nonetheless consistently evocative, and full of a diffuse, affecting melancholy.