Watching TV with the Red Chinese (2011)
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40% of critics liked it
(10 reviews) -
100% of users liked it
(77 ratings)
Three Chinese students, Tzu (James Chen), Wa (Keong Sim) and Chen (Leonardo Nam) come to study in America in the summer of 1980. They move into a New York City apartment next door to Dexter (Ryan O'Nan), a graduate student who introduces them to Suzanne (Gillian Jacobs), his occasional… More Three Chinese students, Tzu (James Chen), Wa (Keong Sim) and Chen (Leonardo Nam) come to study in America in the summer of 1980. They move into a New York City apartment next door to Dexter (Ryan O'Nan), a graduate student who introduces them to Suzanne (Gillian Jacobs), his occasional girlfriend and to Billy (Michael Esper), a struggling filmmaker. The Chinese find America fascinating. However, their perceptions, based on watching non-stop television, change when one of them is brutally mugged, when Suzanne takes up with Chen behind Dexter's back, and when Zap (Peter Scanavino), Suzanne's ex boyfriend, stalks them into a state of terror. When on December 8, 1980 John Lennon is murdered, the Chinese students decide to buy a gun for self-defense. -- (C) Official Site
- Directed By
- Shimon Dotan
- Written By
- Netaya Anbar
- Genres
- Drama, Art House & International, Comedy
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Jan 20, 2012 Limited
- Studio
- Roam Films
Critic Reviews
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V.A. Musetto, New York Post
Dotan takes this iffy story and makes it nearly unwatchable by jumping back and forth in time, using screens within screens and bouncing between color and black-and-white.
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Daniel M. Gold, New York Times
The film nicely captures the grad-student vibe: beer-fueled bull sessions about science, religion, probability and destiny; fragile, self-absorbed egos preening even as confidence wavers.
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Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News
This quirky indie has an off-kilter, shaggy appeal and a filling story.
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Ronnie Scheib, Variety
The conversations feel artificial, overly concerned with re-creating period detail or interjecting relevant philosophical life concepts, like a constantly rehashed theory of alternate universes built on different "what if?" scenarios.
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Nick Schager, Village Voice
Nearly every scene is clunky...
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
No Featured Audience Ratings Found…
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Cast
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Ryan O'Nan
as Dexter
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Gillian Jacobs
as Suzanne
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Leonardo Nam
as Chen
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James Chen
as Tzu
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Keong Sim
as Wa
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Michael Esper
as Billy
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Peter Scanavino
as Czapinczyk
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Ron C. Johns
as Little
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Idara Victor
as Antigone
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Constance Wu
as Kimi
