Day and Night (film)

Infobox Film
name = Day and Night


image_size =
caption =
director = Wang Chao
producer = Fang Li
Sylvain Bursztejn
writer = Wang Chao
starring =
music = Qin Wenchen
cinematography = Yihuhewula
editing = Zhou Xinxia
distributor = Worldwide Sales:
Onoma
International theatrical:
Rosem Films
released = Cannes:
May 14, 2004
runtime = 95 min.
language = Mandarin
budget =
country = China
amg_id = 1:316978
imdb_id = 0436721

"Day and Night" (zh-cp|c=日日夜夜|p=Rìrì yèyè) is a 2004 Chinese film, and the sophomore effort of Sixth Generation writer-director Wang Chao. It is also known, less accurately, as "Night and Day". The film constitutes the second entry in Wang Chao's loose trilogy on modern China. It was preceded by Wang's 2001 debut, "The Orphan of Anyang", and would be followed by "Luxury Car" in 2006. The film is a Chinese-French co-production between Fang Li's Laurel Films and Sylvain Busztejn's Rosem Pictures in association with the China Film Fourth Group and Arte France Cinema; Laurel and Rosem would later reunite to produce "Luxury Car".

"Day and Night" tells the story of a miner, Li Guangsheng (Liu Lei), in a fictional northern Chinese city who carries on an illicit affair with the wife of his friend and father figure (played by "Orphan"'s Sun Guilin). When his friend is killed in a cave-in, the miner is wracked with guilt and takes it upon himself to end the affair, rebuild the mine, and help his friend's mentally disabled son find a wife.

Cast

* Liu Lei as Li Guangsheng, the main character, a miner in northern China.
* Sun Guilin as Zhongmin, Li Guangsheng's friend and father-figure.
* Wang Lan
* Xiao Ming as A-Fu, Zhongmin's son.
* Wang Zheng
* Zhang Guangjie

Reception

"Day and Night" premiered in several major international film festivals, notably the 2004 Adelaide Film Festival [cite web|url=http://2005.adelaidefilmfestival.org/films/dayandnight.html| title = Adelaide Film Festival, Films, Day and Night| publisher = Adelaide Film Festival | date=2008-02-19] but also at Pusan and Hong Kong. However, the film would ultimately fail to garner the same level of acclaim that Wang's "The Orphan of Anyang" was able to, though it was more technically polished than the decidedly low-budget "Orphan". Critics such as Derek Elley derided the film as a "curiously lifeless item that falls short of its seemingly mythic intent."cite web|url=http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117925312.html?categoryid=31&cs=1|title = Day and Night Review | author=Elley, Derek| publisher = "Variety" |date = 2004-10-19| accessdate=2008-02-19] As such, it is generally considered a less successful film than its predecessor. [cite web|url =http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/festivals/07/43/afi-afm-2006.html |title =Inside and Outside: The 2006 AFI Fest/American Film Market | date =2006-11-01 | author = Reynaud, Bérénice | publisher = "Senses of Cinema" |accessdate = 2008-02-19]

The film did manage to garner one major award, however, with the Golden Montgolfiere at the 2004 Nantes Three Continents Festival. [cite web|url=http://www.kinema.uwaterloo.ca/ff-052.htm| title = Kinema Festivals| publisher = University of Waterloo-"Kinema" | author = Dönmez-Colin, Gönül | accessdate =2008-02-19]

References

External links

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* [http://www.dianying.com/en/title/rry2004 "Night and Day"] at the Chinese Movie Database