70
Metascore
7 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghTV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghXiao's bittersweet film is superficially a swoony love letter to the cinema. But her valentine has a hidden sting, rooted in some hard truths about movie mania.
- 75New York PostV.A. MusettoNew York PostV.A. MusettoThe Chinese pleaser Electric Shadows belongs to a genre they don't teach in film school: Triple S, as in sweet, sappy and sentimental.
- 75Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerChristian Science MonitorPeter RainerThings take several turns for the worse as the story plays out, and the film loses much of its charm. But it's a fascinating artifact, and never more so than when it features clips from Chinese and, of all things, Albanian propaganda films.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterWith her debut, Xiao Jiang has created the Chinese equivalent of "Cinema Paradiso." The Beijing Film Academy graduate's confident first feature is a lovely, elegant paean to the joy and liberty that films offer as a symbol.
- 70VarietyDerek ElleyVarietyDerek ElleyA fairly conventional heartwarmer, lifted by likable performances, good-looking production values and (for movie buffs) a story centered on an outdoor cinema in rural China.
- 70The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenPlays as an enthralling but implausible Asian soap opera.
- 60Village VoiceMichael AtkinsonVillage VoiceMichael AtkinsonElectric Shadows is committed to movies-as-escape swoonery, but the script's late disasters are also predicated on cinema and filmgoing, suggesting an ambivalence the rest of the film seems oblivious to.