• Trending
    • Certified Fresh & Verified Hot
    • TV Premier dates
    • New horror Movies
    • Best Movies of All Time
  • Movies
    • Movies In Theaters
    • Movies at Home
  • TV Shows
    • New TV
    • Most Popular TV
  • News
    • What to Watch
    • Guides
    • RT News
    • Awards
  • Games
    • Find Your Next Horror Watch
  • Video
  • Showtimes
  • Fanstore
  • About Rotten Tomatoes
  • Critics
  • Download the App Now
  • Logout
Rotten Tomatoes
Suggestions will appear as you start typing. Submit search Movies Tv shows RT App New News Showtimes

Spring in a Small Town

Play trailer Poster for Spring in a Small Town 1948,  1h 25m,  Drama/ Romance Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist 100% 15 Reviews Tomatometer 83% 500+ Ratings Popcornmeter
100% Tomatometer 15 Reviews 83% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
Dai Liyan, the crippled patriarch of the once prosperous Dai family, lives in his ruined family compound with his wife, Liyan. Liyan's childhood friend, Dr. Zhang Zhichen, visits and she is torn between loyalty to her family and her love for Zhang.

Critics Reviews

View More
Tara Brady Irish Times Jun 23, 2014
5/5
The unadorned, pre-institutional storytelling makes for a far more compelling viewing than Tian Zhuangzhuang's 2002 glossy remake. Go to Full Review
Kate Muir The Times (UK) Jun 20, 2014
4/5
Full of subtle erotic tension, the 1948 drama focuses close up on Yuwen (Wei Wei), a frustrated, exquisitely beautiful housewife whose husband Liyan (Shi Yu) is invalided by tuberculosis and the traumatic effects of the Sino-Japanese war. Go to Full Review
Geoffrey Macnab Independent (UK) Jun 20, 2014
5/5
There is an eerie, ghostly quality to Fei Wu's classic 1948 melodrama. Go to Full Review
Graham Fuller The Arts Desk Oct 30, 2020
5/5
Passion hits the brick wall of decency in Fei Mu's 1948 masterpiece... Go to Full Review
Ben Nicholson CineVue Oct 30, 2020
5/5
Mu truly has crafted one of Chinese cinema's quietly devastating landmarks... Go to Full Review
Andrew Heskins easternKicks.com Sep 24, 2020
5/5
One of the most important Chinese films of the 20th Century, still as powerful and as fresh as when it was originally released... Go to Full Review
Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
Harry M Dec 17, 2018 Spring in a Small Town is a fine movie with a cast of about five characters set in a dilapidated house and its immediate surroundings. The story is deceptively simple. Wei Wei says at the beginning nothing ever changes in the small town. However, after a former love interest and family friend, who is clearly better for her than her sickly husband, makes a prolonged visit and leaves, on the surface everything seems to be the same as when the movie started, but we're left asking how can things ever be the same again? This movie NEEDS a Criterion restoration. See more
Read all reviews
Spring in a Small Town

My Rating

Read More Read Less WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW POST RATING

Cast & Crew

View All

Mu Fei

Director

Cui Chao-Ming

Lao Huang

Wei Li

Zhang Zhichen

Yu Shi

Dai Liyan

Wei Wei

Zhou Yuwen

Hongmei Zhang

Meimei

More Like This

View All
5 Centimeters per Second 5 Centimeters per Second Watchlist Misunderstood 92% Misunderstood Watchlist Kirik Party 95% Kirik Party Watchlist Innocent Sorcerers 89% Innocent Sorcerers Watchlist The Aviator's Wife 82% 84% The Aviator's Wife Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More
View All

Spring in a Small Town

Spring in a Small Town (1948) Spring in a Small Town (1948) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Dai Liyan, the crippled patriarch of the once prosperous Dai family, lives in his ruined family compound with his wife, Liyan. Liyan's childhood friend, Dr. Zhang Zhichen, visits and she is torn between loyalty to her family and her love for Zhang.
Director
Mu Fei
Screenwriter
Tianji Li
Production Co
Wenhua Film Company
Genre
Drama, Romance
Original Language
Chinese
Release Date (Streaming)
May 15, 2008
Runtime
1h 25m
Join The Newsletter Join The Newsletter Cookie Settings