An Unfinished Film

The vertiginous condensing of fiction and nonfiction, of past and present, has a radically destabilizing effect that’s inseparable from the audacity of Lou’s political vision.

Life gets in the way of art all the time, and art can be made out of life. What matters, the movie suggests, is hanging onto one another for dear life.

If the frames of Lou’s previous work suggested that reality was something that could be unlocked and unfurled, An Unfinished Film’s presentation of reality as it basically was unfortunately gives the filmmaker, and the audience, little to discover.

It’s the ominous build-up to the lockdown that has the characteristic urgency, tension, and suspense associated with Lou Ye’s cinema. It is the part that is gripping, involving as well as emotionally exhausting—that feeling of being trapped...

Nostalgic docufiction that morphs into a lockdown thriller.

This is an utterly unique and very important movie about Covid, the crisis that affected all of us.

At its best, the film effectively conveys the terror and helplessness felt by an entire population. Yet, its overall impact is underwhelming, struggling to develop a compelling narrative with its sluggish pacing.

I’m not sure how many people are ready to relive the memories stirred up by An Unfinished Film, but the film’s creative and sensitive approach to depicting life during the COVID-19 pandemic deserves to be seen.

Shies away from interrogating the unique circumstances that the Chinese people found themselves in during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’d be a herculean task to construct an objective history that captures all the dynamics of this unprecedented time.


[T]he story becomes one of stretches of boredom and repetition.