Yi jiang chun shui xiang dong liu

Tedious melodrama that makes you forget its charms faster than the man forgets his wives.

A well-made but overly long family melodrama. This doesn't have the depth or scope of an epic and doesn't hold a candle to Gone With the Wind or the dramas of Ozu, however, this was really good for what it was.

With World War II over and done with, Chinese cinema was up and running in a ambitious manner, and none more ambitious as Yi jiang chun shui xiang dong liu [The Spring River Flows East] (1947). Polished, but not a very spectacular looking production, to be honest. More soapy than anything grandeur, following a upper-class family through the war and the aftermath. This over 3-hour long drama does well with its more domestic settings and the characters does grow on you.