Wang portrays a deeply moving drama about pain, guilt and the loss of a family at a contemplative pace, without losing sight of the human heart of his characters or the sociopolitical context of the changes in Chinese society. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 8/10 | Apr 12, 2024

The story puzzles and captivates from the first of its three hours. [Full review in Spanish]

| Nov 24, 2020

It was my best theatrical experience of 2019.

| Jun 30, 2020

At just over three hours long, some may be worried that Wang Xiaoshuai's first fiction film in five years will last almost as long as that, but it's a rare case of an epic drama justifying its lengthy runtime.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Feb 6, 2020

"So Long, My Son" offers a humanistic look at China in the wake of Reform and Opening...It's a winning formula for anyone who's into East Asian art cinema or modern Chinese history.

| Dec 17, 2019

Several of the plot twists might sit easy in a racy soap opera, but that powers the grandly-scaled film along.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 11, 2019

Its fancy plotting, leaping back and forth in time, is sometimes too forced, but the performances by Wang Jingchun and Yong Mei are heart-rending.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 9, 2019

It's a masterful social epic.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 9, 2019

Magnificent film-making.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 9, 2019

Filmed with grace and reserve, So Long, My Son follows the couples through the hard years... and speaks to the remarkable resilience of ordinary Chinese people in the face of a cold and monolithic state.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 9, 2019

It's a gorgeous, melancholy masterpiece.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 8, 2019

So Long, My Son offers a compelling yet heartbreaking exploration of grief, politics and family in China. Guided by captivating performances from Wang Jinchun and Jong Mei, it packs an emotional punch.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 7, 2019

Its power lies in the non-chronological structure, as well as the tantalising slowness with which vital information is revealed.

| Dec 5, 2019

China's So Long, My Son is three hours long and feels like three years. That's a compliment.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 4, 2019

So Long, My Son and its use of the tune of Auld Lang Syne will break your heart. But finally it comes to a resolution which revisits the past and repays all the emotions it has put you though during its epic sweep.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 4, 2019

So Long, My Son, whose original title in Mandarin is Di Jiu Tian Chang, is an easily accessible, beautifully-wrought work of cinema whose universal human story of heartbreak and tragedy is spellbinding.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 4, 2019

So Long, My Son is a piercingly, profoundly moving picture that peels and exposes the senses.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 4, 2019

Beautifully played - especially by Wang Jingchun - So Long, My Son is sprawling, audacious, sometimes bewildering, ultimately moving. It tests your patience but it's worth it.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 4, 2019

While its structure is challenging - the narrative ducks back and forth in time, for brief moments or long sequences - the storytelling is so involving that it doesn't take long to sink into its rhythms.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 3, 2019

A lingering, heart-breaking epic of great subtlety, specificity and ultimately universal power.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 3, 2019