The Blue Kite Movie Review

This Chinese nominee for 1995's Independent Spirit Award's Best Foreign Language Film appeared to be unavailable for reappraisal at San Francisco video outlets, although it can be purchased through Kino on Video. Fifteen years of political and cultural upheaval in China is shown through the eyes of young troublemaker Tietou, who certainly earns his nickname of “Ironhead” after his 1954 birth. Soon his father is sent to a labor reform camp and his mother remarries—only to be faced with more struggles as the years go by. The kite is Tietou's cherished toy, and it keeps getting lost or destroyed but is always being rebuilt, offering one token of hope. In Chinese with English subtitles.

1993 138m/C CH Lu Liping, Zhang Wenyao, Pu Quanxin; D: Tian Zhuangzhuang; W: Xiao Mao; C: Yong Hou; M: Yoshihide Otomo. Nominations: Independent Spirit Awards ‘95: Best Foreign Film. VHS