Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl . Tucson Weekly . 08-16-99

Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl

DIRECTED BY: Joan Chen

REVIEWED: 08-16-99

First-time director Joan Chen strikes a blow for free speech by smuggling in this piece of thinly veiled child pornography. As part of a widespread program implemented during China's zany Cultural Revolution, a young girl name Xiu Xiu (Mo-shu ingenue Lu Lu) is relocated to the countryside and forced to live with a middle-aged castrated cowboy (Toshiro Mifune look-alike Lop Sang). The latter develops a paternal yet unsettling crush on his young tent mate. Tragedy, lewdness and tedium ensue as naive Xiu Xiu becomes the Communist party girl for the local administrative council in a vain attempt to get sent back to the city. Xiu Xiu is a perfect example of the type of vapid art-house film that beret-wearing fuckwits will fawn over because it has subtitles and pretty shots of sunsets. What I found interesting was that this dull movie drew the largest crowd I've ever seen at The Loft, made up mostly of silver-haired senior citizens who wouldn't be caught dead at Adult Expectations renting Nearly Legal Presents: Hot Maoist Jailbait.

--Greg Petix

Full Length Reviews
Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl
Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl
Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl

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