SYNOPSIS

The film is named after a popular song about waiting at a railway platform. Set in the small city of Fenyang (birthplace of director Jia Zhang), Shanxi Province, the film exams the transition in 1980s China away from Maoism and socialism and towards commercialism, Westernization, and popular culture by focusing on a group of amateur theatre troupe performers whose fate mirrors that of the general population in China as massive socio-economic changes sweep across the mainland.
The film commences in 1979 with the troupe performing numbers idolizing Mao Zedong, ending in the '80s when the shows reflect the strong Western influences pervading China. The influences of the West and the adoption of more modern social conventions begin to slowly manifest themselves in Fenyang, and two young people, Minliang and Chang Jun find their own lives beginning to change.

TECHNICAL DATA

Director:: Jia Zhang Ke
Script:: Jia Zhang Ke
Cast:: Hong Wei Wang, Tao Zhao, Jing Dong Liang, Tian Yi Yang, Bo Wang
Cinematography:: Nelson Yu Lik-Wai
Music:: Toshihiro Hanno
Runtime:: 154 min. COLOR.