the excruciatingly slow pace of this film be probably the director express intention and in order to convey what life be like grow up a a village teen in china . however and i find the combination of the glacially slow plot and the general filming style so impersonal a to be totally alienating and particularly to a western audience . at time i actually have trouble tell some character apart and a they be film from such a distance . two hour in and i be totally past caring . a someone who be not only interested in music but be also very into the history and culture of china ( and be by the way no stranger to chinese cinema ) and i couldn not engage with a single character and find nothing to get my teeth into . it beg the question represent if i dislike it and who on earth would like it . give me zhang yimou and give me chen kaige . give me the work of just about any other chinese director i have ever see . this sorry effort just doesn not measure up at all . i would be sorry to see chinese cinema judge against this benchmark .