Dai, Sijie, Various	...	(Director)
Sijie Dai, Sijie Dai	...	(Writer)
Xun Zhou	...	Little Chinese Seamstress
Ye Liu	...	Ma
Kun Chen	...	Luo
Shuangbao Wang	...	Head of the Village
Zhijun Cong	...	Old Tailor
Hongwei Wang	...	Four Eyes
Xiong Xiao	...	Mother of Four Eyes
Zuohui Tang	...	Old Mill Worker
Wei Chen	...	Wife of the Head of the Village
Tianlu Chen	...	Director of the Commune
Qing-yun Fan	...	Doctor
Jie Min	...	Peasant
He Zhang	...	Peasant
Yukun Xu	...	Peasant
Lina Mei	...	Female Villager

Comments: DCH 141

Summary: An easy movie to misinterpret. Despite stunning scenery of 'Phoenix Mountain' flooded by recent damn construction in Chongqing, expect to learn very little here. The real surprise is perhaps a refusal in the PRC to allow release. Why? Here two students forced into hard labor during the cultural revolution remain adolescent characters from start to end, cardboard cutouts who lie for personal benefit. Unable to work in the copper mines or carry fertilizer for crops, they prove themselves by retelling Korean movies to the villagers and playing violin. Balzac is only an excuse for having sex with the illiterate daughter of the village's richest man, who is a tailor. They refuse an offer to learn his trade; after an abortion she exiles herself to Shenzhen and then Hong Kong. Many years later the two men meet again. Both have tried searching for the seamstress without success. Like the off screen action described above...