Fix up and look sharp, NYC filmgoers: Wang Bing‘s latest, “Youth (Spring),” begins its US theatrical rollout at Metograph next month. And the new documentary is just the first in a trilogy of new films Wang Bing has worked on since 2014. So if “Youth (Spring)” ends up a year-end favorite, get ready for two more films featuring the same people in due time.
READ MORE: ‘Youth (Spring)’ Review: The Kids Are Underpaid & Flirty [Cannes]
Premiering at Cannes earlier this year alongside Wang Bing’s other new film, “Man In Black,” “Youth (Spring)” charts the social and economic evolutions in 21st-century China through the lives of young migrant textile workers in Zhili, a factory town outside Shanghai. Wang Bing shot the film and the rest of the trilogy between 2014-2019. And once completed, the director estimates all three films will run just under ten hours. So, along with this film’s 212-minute runtime, if long documentaries aren’t your thing, you’ve been warned.
Reviews out of Cannes for “Youth (Spring)” were mostly positive, but The Playlist’s wasn’t (read it here). Still, this film should be of interest to those who’ve enjoyed Wang Bing’s other work, like 2010’s “The Ditch,” about Chinese labor camps, or 2017’s “Mrs. Fang,” which won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival that year.
Check out the trailer for “Youth (Spring)” below. The film hits Metrograph on November 10.