🕷️ Crawler Inspector

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Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 95 (from laksa095)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa095.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/the-sun-rises-on-us-all-review-1236363484/\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/the-sun-rises-on-us-all-review-1236363484/\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/the-sun-rises-on-us-all-review-1236363484\/","crawl_time":1776452596,"first_indexed_time":1757220064,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,hollywoodreporter!www,\/movies\/movie-reviews\/the-sun-rises-on-us-all-review-1236363484\/ s443","src_root_hash":"10564971293756041095","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"'The Sun Rises on Us All' Review: A Dour, Well-Acted Chinese drama","meta_descriptions":["Cai Shangjun returns to competition in Venice with 'The Sun Rises on Us All,' a story about two former lovers trying to move on from their dark past."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"Skip to main content\nHome\nMovies\nMovie Reviews\n‘The Sun Rises on Us All’ Review: Two Terrific Actors Carry a Soul-Crushing Chinese Drama That Keeps Striking the Same Note\n'People Mountain People Sea' director Cai Shangjun returns to competition in Venice with a story about two former lovers trying to move on from their dark past.\n'The Sun Rises on Us All'\nVenice Film Festival\nThe weight of the past comes crashing down on a pair of ex-lovers in Chinese director Cai Shangjun’s latest drama, which asks whether it’s possible to forgive and forget  — or even to go on living when your bad deeds keep coming back to haunt you.\nThis superbly acted, impeccably crafted if rather overwrought two-hander is called\nThe Sun Rises on Us All\n(\nRi Gua Zhong Tian\n), a title that gives us some hope that its doomed couple may eventually find some solace, or at least a bit of sunshine. But will they?\nThe Sun Rises On Us All\nThe Bottom Line\nImpressively performed but over-the-top.\nVenue:\nVenice Film Festival (Competition)\nCast:\nXin Zhilei, Zhang Songwen, Feng Shaofeng\nDirector:\nCai Shangjun\nScreenwriters:\nCai Shangjun, Han Nianjin\n2 hours 11 minutes\nNot every star-crossed romance begins with its two protagonists accidentally bumping into each other in a crowded public hospital, which they’re both visiting for not-so-great reasons. And yet that’s how 30-something shopkeeper Meiyun (Xin Zhilei, winner of the fest’s Best Actress prize) winds up seeing Baoshu (Zhang Songwen) for the first time in many years. The sight of him, hunched over and sickly, gives Meiyun the chills. Or maybe she’s freaking out because she’s just had an ultrasound confirming she’s pregnant, although the doctor can’t detect a heartbeat yet.\nCai, who co-wrote the script with Han Nianjin, lays the sauce on thick from the get-go, but also withholds lots of key information about Meiyun and Baoshu’s mysterious connection. The latter then disappears for a while so we can focus more on Meiyun’s dreary life. During the daytime, she livestreams fashion videos at her shopping mall clothing store. At night, she sometimes sleeps with a paranoid married man (Shaofeng Feng), who is being blackmailed about their affair and seems unwilling to commit to something more serious.\nIn other words, Meiyun doesn’t have much to be happy about, rarely cracking a smile unless she’s posting content for her business. But the woman is also a fighter who wants to keep the baby, even if her current lover seems to have major doubts about their relationship. All of this is happening just as Baoshu suddenly drops back into her life, prompting Meiyun to visit him again at the hospital, where we learn he’s been operated on for Stage IV stomach cancer.\nBaoshu thus doesn’t have much to be happy about, either, and he drags himself around in either wincing pain or a deep state of loss. Slowly but surely, Cai unveils the backstory between him and Meiyun, revealing how they were once in love, until a fateful accident tore them apart. It’s not worth spoiling what happened — and the movie takes its sweet time to fully explain all of that — but let’s just say that Meiyun owes her ex quite a lot for what he went through.\nMost romantic dramas go from meet-cute to hooking up to some kind of major dilemma, but\nThe Sun Rises on Us All\nheads in the opposite direction. The dilemma’s already been there for some time, and now Meiyun and Baoshu have to figure out how to move on from it, or not. Cai focuses on their many regrets and misgivings, not to mention all the guilt weighing on Meiyun, who carries it around like a giant emotional ball and chain.\nCan love somehow emerge from such a mess? That’s what we start hoping, and the film’s best sections show how the weary pair tries to kickstart a new life together, both out of necessity and, on Meiyun’s part, a sort of rekindled desire. And yet anyone who’s seen Cai’s incredibly bleak 2011 thriller,\nPeople Mountain People Sea\n, knows that we’re probably not headed toward a big happy wedding at the finale.\nIndeed, the director begins to pile on the punishment from one scene to the next, sometimes to an effective degree, sometimes in ways that boil over into pure melodrama. One well-observed sequence has Meiyun chasing down a debt for her clothing business, only to find herself facing a woman in exactly the same sort of predicament. But a scene where she and Baoshu get stuck in an elevator seems overtly symbolic and a tad too much like a deus ex machina, albeit one that doesn’t save either of them from impending doom.\nThe elevator scene also showcases the impressive range of both lead actors, who aren’t afraid to go overboard in the film’s more fiery moments, of which there are quite a few. Xin is especially a revelation here, portraying a character who shifts from fake-smiling into her phone so she can sell dresses on social media to begging for the kind of life-changing reprieve she may never be granted.\nEven if\nThe Sun Rises on Us All\nis the story of a couple — or rather, a couple that could have been — the movie really belongs to Meiyun, who suffers not only for the bargain she made years ago, but for committing the sin of being a woman. (Let’s not even discuss what happens with her pregnancy.) Cai deliberately portrays his heroine as an average working-class girl, hinting at what a tough thing that is in a cutthroat country like China, and perhaps justifying Meiyun’s final, desperate act as one of ultimate emancipation.\nFull credits\nVenue: Venice Film Festival (Competition)\nCast: Xin Zhilei, Zhang Songwen, Feng Shaofeng\nProduction companies: Guangzhou Mint Pictures, Guangzhou Zizai Media\nDirector: Cai Shangjun\nScreenwriters: Cai Shangjun, Han Nianjin\nProducers: Ma Shuang, Justine O., Huang Titi, Shen Shuo, Sean Ren\nExecutive producers: Cai Shangjun, Wang Haifeng\nCinematographer: Kim Hyunseok\nProduction designer: Zhai Tao\nCostume designer: Chia-Hui Wang\nEditors: Matthieu Laclau, Yann-shan Tsai\nComposer: Guo Sida\nSales: MK2\nIn Mandarin\n2 hours 11 minutes\nTHR Newsletters\nSign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day\nSubscribe\nSign Up","attrs_markdown":"×\n\n![an image, when javascript is unavailable](https:\/\/sb.scorecardresearch.com\/p?c1=2&c2=6035310&c4=&cv=3.9&cj=1)\n\n[Skip to main content](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/the-sun-rises-on-us-all-review-1236363484\/#pagetop)\n\nPlus Icon\n\nClick to expand the Mega Menu\n\nClick to expand search form\n\n[Got a tip?](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/tip-line\/)\n\n[The Hollywood Reporter homepage](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/)\n\n[Newsletters](https:\/\/cloud.email.hollywoodreporter.com\/signup\/)\n\n[Subscribe](https:\/\/subscriptions.hollywoodreporter.com\/site\/thr-subscribe)\n\n![](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/7cov_Stylists_hi_res_4-2026.jpg?w=1047)\n\n### The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News\nSubscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter\n\n[See My Options Sign Up](https:\/\/subscriptions.hollywoodreporter.com\/site\/thr-subscribe)\n\n## site categories\n- [News](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/c\/news\/)\n- 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Show (Exclusive)](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/tv\/tv-news\/brandi-rhodes-new-reality-show-all-rhodes-exclusive-1236567425\/)\n\n[Subscribe](https:\/\/subscriptions.hollywoodreporter.com\/site\/thr-subscribe)\n\n![]()\n\n### The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News\nSubscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter\n\n[See My Options Sign Up](https:\/\/subscriptions.hollywoodreporter.com\/site\/thr-subscribe)\n\n- [Home](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/)\n- [Movies](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/c\/movies\/)\n- [Movie Reviews](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/c\/movies\/movie-reviews\/)\n# ‘The Sun Rises on Us All’ Review: Two Terrific Actors Carry a Soul-Crushing Chinese Drama That Keeps Striking the Same Note\n'People Mountain People Sea' director Cai Shangjun returns to competition in Venice with a story about two former lovers trying to move on from their dark past.\n\nBy  [Jordan Mintzer](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/author\/jordan-mintzer\/)\n\nPlus Icon\n\n### [Jordan Mintzer](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/author\/jordan-mintzer\/)\n### More Stories by Jordan\n- [‘Exit 8’ Review: Creepy if Redundant Video Game Adaptation Blends J-Horror Tropes Into a Surreal Single Location](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/exit-8-review-video-game-japanese-1236553497\/)\n- [‘The Last Critic’ Review: Legendary Critic Robert Christgau Gets a Generous Homage in a Doc Revisiting Six Decades Chronicling the Best and Worst in Music](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/the-last-critic-review-robert-christgau-documentary-1236534324\/)\n- [‘Drag’ Review: Lizzy Caplan Headlines a Twisted, Tongue-in-Cheek Robbery Thriller That Overstays Its Welcome](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/drag-review-lizzy-caplan-1236532713\/)\n\n[View All](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/author\/jordan-mintzer\/)\n\nSeptember 6, 2025 9:33pm\n\n- [Share on Facebook](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dialog\/share?title=%E2%80%98The%20Sun%20Rises%20on%20Us%20All%E2%80%99%20Review:%20Two%20Terrific%20Actors%20Carry%20a%20Soul-Crushing%20Chinese%20Drama%20That%20Keeps%20Striking%20the%20Same%20Note&sdk=joey&display=popup&ref=plugin&src=share_button&app_id=1153511048447777&href=https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/the-sun-rises-on-us-all-review-1236363484\/)\n- [Share on X](https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/post?url=https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/the-sun-rises-on-us-all-review-1236363484\/&text=%E2%80%98The%20Sun%20Rises%20on%20Us%20All%E2%80%99%20Review%3A%20Two%20Terrific%20Actors%20Carry%20a%20Soul-Crushing%20Chinese%20Drama%20That%20Keeps%20Striking%20the%20Same%20Note&via=thr)\n- [Google Preferred](https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hollywoodreporter.com)\n- 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Festival\n\n- [Share on Facebook](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dialog\/share?title=%E2%80%98The%20Sun%20Rises%20on%20Us%20All%E2%80%99%20Review:%20Two%20Terrific%20Actors%20Carry%20a%20Soul-Crushing%20Chinese%20Drama%20That%20Keeps%20Striking%20the%20Same%20Note&sdk=joey&display=popup&ref=plugin&src=share_button&app_id=1153511048447777&href=https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/the-sun-rises-on-us-all-review-1236363484\/)\n- [Share on X](https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/post?url=https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/the-sun-rises-on-us-all-review-1236363484\/&text=%E2%80%98The%20Sun%20Rises%20on%20Us%20All%E2%80%99%20Review%3A%20Two%20Terrific%20Actors%20Carry%20a%20Soul-Crushing%20Chinese%20Drama%20That%20Keeps%20Striking%20the%20Same%20Note&via=thr)\n- [Google Preferred](https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hollywoodreporter.com)\n- [Share to 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Email](mailto:?subject=thr%20:%20‘The%20Sun%20Rises%20on%20Us%20All’%20Review:%20Two%20Terrific%20Actors%20Carry%20a%20Soul-Crushing%20Chinese%20Drama%20That%20Keeps%20Striking%20the%20Same%20Note&body=https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/the-sun-rises-on-us-all-review-1236363484\/%20-%20‘The%20Sun%20Rises%20on%20Us%20All’%20Review:%20Two%20Terrific%20Actors%20Carry%20a%20Soul-Crushing%20Chinese%20Drama%20That%20Keeps%20Striking%20the%20Same%20Note)\n- [Print the Article](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/the-sun-rises-on-us-all-review-1236363484\/)\n- [Post a Comment](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/the-sun-rises-on-us-all-review-1236363484\/#respond)\n\nThe weight of the past comes crashing down on a pair of ex-lovers in Chinese director Cai Shangjun’s latest drama, which asks whether it’s possible to forgive and forget — or even to go on living when your bad deeds keep coming back to haunt you.\n\nThis superbly acted, impeccably crafted if rather overwrought two-hander is called *The Sun Rises on Us All* (*Ri Gua Zhong Tian*), a title that gives us some hope that its doomed couple may eventually find some solace, or at least a bit of sunshine. But will they?\n\n### The Sun Rises On Us All\nThe Bottom Line  Impressively performed but over-the-top.\n\n**Venue:** Venice Film Festival (Competition)  \n**Cast:** Xin Zhilei, Zhang Songwen, Feng Shaofeng  \n**Director:** Cai Shangjun  \n**Screenwriters:** Cai Shangjun, Han Nianjin  \n  2 hours 11 minutes\n\nNot every star-crossed romance begins with its two protagonists accidentally bumping into each other in a crowded public hospital, which they’re both visiting for not-so-great reasons. And yet that’s how 30-something shopkeeper Meiyun (Xin Zhilei, winner of the fest’s Best Actress prize) winds up seeing Baoshu (Zhang Songwen) for the first time in many years. The sight of him, hunched over and sickly, gives Meiyun the chills. Or maybe she’s freaking out because she’s just had an ultrasound confirming she’s pregnant, although the doctor can’t detect a heartbeat yet.\n\n### Related Stories\n[![Marine Johnson, right, on set as Edith Blais in The Hourglass.](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/SABLIER_EDITH-ET-MARINE-HOR.jpg?w=1500)](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-news\/marine-johnson-luca-colucci-kim-nguyen-the-hourglass-1236564053\/)\n\n[Movies](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/c\/movies\/)\n\n### [Marine Johnson, Luca Colucci Lead Kim Nguyen's 'The Hourglass' Hostage Drama (Exclusive)](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-news\/marine-johnson-luca-colucci-kim-nguyen-the-hourglass-1236564053\/)\n\n[![Willem Dafoe](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Willem-Dafoe-Photo-Andrea-Avezzu-Courtesy-La-Biennale-di-Venezia.jpg?w=1500)](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/lifestyle\/lifestyle-news\/willem-dafoe-interview-venice-theater-festival-2026-1236544212\/)\n\n[Lifestyle](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/c\/lifestyle\/)\n\n### [Willem Dafoe on His Venice Theater Program: \"I Miss the Amateur Spirit\"](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/lifestyle\/lifestyle-news\/willem-dafoe-interview-venice-theater-festival-2026-1236544212\/)\n\nCai, who co-wrote the script with Han Nianjin, lays the sauce on thick from the get-go, but also withholds lots of key information about Meiyun and Baoshu’s mysterious connection. The latter then disappears for a while so we can focus more on Meiyun’s dreary life. During the daytime, she livestreams fashion videos at her shopping mall clothing store. At night, she sometimes sleeps with a paranoid married man (Shaofeng Feng), who is being blackmailed about their affair and seems unwilling to commit to something more serious.\n\nIn other words, Meiyun doesn’t have much to be happy about, rarely cracking a smile unless she’s posting content for her business. But the woman is also a fighter who wants to keep the baby, even if her current lover seems to have major doubts about their relationship. All of this is happening just as Baoshu suddenly drops back into her life, prompting Meiyun to visit him again at the hospital, where we learn he’s been operated on for Stage IV stomach cancer.\n\nBaoshu thus doesn’t have much to be happy about, either, and he drags himself around in either wincing pain or a deep state of loss. Slowly but surely, Cai unveils the backstory between him and Meiyun, revealing how they were once in love, until a fateful accident tore them apart. It’s not worth spoiling what happened — and the movie takes its sweet time to fully explain all of that — but let’s just say that Meiyun owes her ex quite a lot for what he went through.\n\nMost romantic dramas go from meet-cute to hooking up to some kind of major dilemma, but *The Sun Rises on Us All* heads in the opposite direction. The dilemma’s already been there for some time, and now Meiyun and Baoshu have to figure out how to move on from it, or not. Cai focuses on their many regrets and misgivings, not to mention all the guilt weighing on Meiyun, who carries it around like a giant emotional ball and chain.\n\nCan love somehow emerge from such a mess? That’s what we start hoping, and the film’s best sections show how the weary pair tries to kickstart a new life together, both out of necessity and, on Meiyun’s part, a sort of rekindled desire. And yet anyone who’s seen Cai’s incredibly bleak 2011 thriller, *People Mountain People Sea*, knows that we’re probably not headed toward a big happy wedding at the finale.\n\nIndeed, the director begins to pile on the punishment from one scene to the next, sometimes to an effective degree, sometimes in ways that boil over into pure melodrama. One well-observed sequence has Meiyun chasing down a debt for her clothing business, only to find herself facing a woman in exactly the same sort of predicament. But a scene where she and Baoshu get stuck in an elevator seems overtly symbolic and a tad too much like a deus ex machina, albeit one that doesn’t save either of them from impending doom.\n\nThe elevator scene also showcases the impressive range of both lead actors, who aren’t afraid to go overboard in the film’s more fiery moments, of which there are quite a few. Xin is especially a revelation here, portraying a character who shifts from fake-smiling into her phone so she can sell dresses on social media to begging for the kind of life-changing reprieve she may never be granted.\n\nEven if *The Sun Rises on Us All* is the story of a couple — or rather, a couple that could have been — the movie really belongs to Meiyun, who suffers not only for the bargain she made years ago, but for committing the sin of being a woman. (Let’s not even discuss what happens with her pregnancy.) Cai deliberately portrays his heroine as an average working-class girl, hinting at what a tough thing that is in a cutthroat country like China, and perhaps justifying Meiyun’s final, desperate act as one of ultimate emancipation.\n\n## Full credits\nVenue: Venice Film Festival (Competition)  \nCast: Xin Zhilei, Zhang Songwen, Feng Shaofeng  \nProduction companies: Guangzhou Mint Pictures, Guangzhou Zizai Media  \nDirector: Cai Shangjun  \nScreenwriters: Cai Shangjun, Han Nianjin  \nProducers: Ma Shuang, Justine O., Huang Titi, Shen Shuo, Sean Ren  \nExecutive producers: Cai Shangjun, Wang Haifeng  \nCinematographer: Kim Hyunseok  \nProduction designer: Zhai Tao  \nCostume designer: Chia-Hui Wang  \nEditors: Matthieu Laclau, Yann-shan Tsai  \nComposer: Guo Sida  \nSales: MK2  \nIn Mandarin  \n  2 hours 11 minutes\n\n### Read More About:\n- [venice](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/venice\/)\n- [Venice 2025](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/venice-2025\/)\n- [Venice Film Festival](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/venice-film-festival-2\/)\n- [Venice Film Festival 2025](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/venice-film-festival-2025\/)\n\n## THR Newsletters\nSign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day\n\n[Subscribe Sign Up](https:\/\/cloud.email.hollywoodreporter.com\/signup\/)\n\n## More from The Hollywood Reporter\n- [Saudi Arabia](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/saudi-arabia\/)\n  \n  ### [She Broke Barriers as a Production CEO in the Middle East. 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All Rights Reserved.  \n THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER is a registered trademark of The Hollywood Reporter, LLC.\n\nad\n\n![Quantcast](https:\/\/pixel.quantserve.com\/pixel?a.1=&a.2=p-31f3D02tYU8zY)","attrs_readable_markdown":"[Skip to main content](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/the-sun-rises-on-us-all-review-1236363484\/#pagetop)\n\n- [Home](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/)\n- [Movies](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/c\/movies\/)\n- [Movie Reviews](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/c\/movies\/movie-reviews\/)\n## ‘The Sun Rises on Us All’ Review: Two Terrific Actors Carry a Soul-Crushing Chinese Drama That Keeps Striking the Same Note\n'People Mountain People Sea' director Cai Shangjun returns to competition in Venice with a story about two former lovers trying to move on from their dark past.\n\n![The Sun Rises on Us All](https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/102862-RI_GUA_ZHONG_TIAN__THE_SUN_RISES_ON_US_ALL__-_Xin_Zhilei_and_Zhang_Songwen-H-2025.jpg?w=1296&h=730&crop=1)\n\n'The Sun Rises on Us All'\n\nVenice Film Festival\n\nThe weight of the past comes crashing down on a pair of ex-lovers in Chinese director Cai Shangjun’s latest drama, which asks whether it’s possible to forgive and forget — or even to go on living when your bad deeds keep coming back to haunt you.\n\nThis superbly acted, impeccably crafted if rather overwrought two-hander is called *The Sun Rises on Us All* (*Ri Gua Zhong Tian*), a title that gives us some hope that its doomed couple may eventually find some solace, or at least a bit of sunshine. But will they?\n\n### The Sun Rises On Us All\nThe Bottom Line  Impressively performed but over-the-top.\n\n**Venue:** Venice Film Festival (Competition)  \n**Cast:** Xin Zhilei, Zhang Songwen, Feng Shaofeng  \n**Director:** Cai Shangjun  \n**Screenwriters:** Cai Shangjun, Han Nianjin  \n  2 hours 11 minutes\n\nNot every star-crossed romance begins with its two protagonists accidentally bumping into each other in a crowded public hospital, which they’re both visiting for not-so-great reasons. And yet that’s how 30-something shopkeeper Meiyun (Xin Zhilei, winner of the fest’s Best Actress prize) winds up seeing Baoshu (Zhang Songwen) for the first time in many years. The sight of him, hunched over and sickly, gives Meiyun the chills. Or maybe she’s freaking out because she’s just had an ultrasound confirming she’s pregnant, although the doctor can’t detect a heartbeat yet.\n\nCai, who co-wrote the script with Han Nianjin, lays the sauce on thick from the get-go, but also withholds lots of key information about Meiyun and Baoshu’s mysterious connection. The latter then disappears for a while so we can focus more on Meiyun’s dreary life. During the daytime, she livestreams fashion videos at her shopping mall clothing store. At night, she sometimes sleeps with a paranoid married man (Shaofeng Feng), who is being blackmailed about their affair and seems unwilling to commit to something more serious.\n\nIn other words, Meiyun doesn’t have much to be happy about, rarely cracking a smile unless she’s posting content for her business. But the woman is also a fighter who wants to keep the baby, even if her current lover seems to have major doubts about their relationship. All of this is happening just as Baoshu suddenly drops back into her life, prompting Meiyun to visit him again at the hospital, where we learn he’s been operated on for Stage IV stomach cancer.\n\nBaoshu thus doesn’t have much to be happy about, either, and he drags himself around in either wincing pain or a deep state of loss. Slowly but surely, Cai unveils the backstory between him and Meiyun, revealing how they were once in love, until a fateful accident tore them apart. It’s not worth spoiling what happened — and the movie takes its sweet time to fully explain all of that — but let’s just say that Meiyun owes her ex quite a lot for what he went through.\n\nMost romantic dramas go from meet-cute to hooking up to some kind of major dilemma, but *The Sun Rises on Us All* heads in the opposite direction. The dilemma’s already been there for some time, and now Meiyun and Baoshu have to figure out how to move on from it, or not. Cai focuses on their many regrets and misgivings, not to mention all the guilt weighing on Meiyun, who carries it around like a giant emotional ball and chain.\n\nCan love somehow emerge from such a mess? That’s what we start hoping, and the film’s best sections show how the weary pair tries to kickstart a new life together, both out of necessity and, on Meiyun’s part, a sort of rekindled desire. And yet anyone who’s seen Cai’s incredibly bleak 2011 thriller, *People Mountain People Sea*, knows that we’re probably not headed toward a big happy wedding at the finale.\n\nIndeed, the director begins to pile on the punishment from one scene to the next, sometimes to an effective degree, sometimes in ways that boil over into pure melodrama. One well-observed sequence has Meiyun chasing down a debt for her clothing business, only to find herself facing a woman in exactly the same sort of predicament. But a scene where she and Baoshu get stuck in an elevator seems overtly symbolic and a tad too much like a deus ex machina, albeit one that doesn’t save either of them from impending doom.\n\nThe elevator scene also showcases the impressive range of both lead actors, who aren’t afraid to go overboard in the film’s more fiery moments, of which there are quite a few. Xin is especially a revelation here, portraying a character who shifts from fake-smiling into her phone so she can sell dresses on social media to begging for the kind of life-changing reprieve she may never be granted.\n\nEven if *The Sun Rises on Us All* is the story of a couple — or rather, a couple that could have been — the movie really belongs to Meiyun, who suffers not only for the bargain she made years ago, but for committing the sin of being a woman. (Let’s not even discuss what happens with her pregnancy.) Cai deliberately portrays his heroine as an average working-class girl, hinting at what a tough thing that is in a cutthroat country like China, and perhaps justifying Meiyun’s final, desperate act as one of ultimate emancipation.\n\n## Full credits\nVenue: Venice Film Festival (Competition)  \nCast: Xin Zhilei, Zhang Songwen, Feng Shaofeng  \nProduction companies: Guangzhou Mint Pictures, Guangzhou Zizai Media  \nDirector: Cai Shangjun  \nScreenwriters: Cai Shangjun, Han Nianjin  \nProducers: Ma Shuang, Justine O., Huang Titi, Shen Shuo, Sean Ren  \nExecutive producers: Cai Shangjun, Wang Haifeng  \nCinematographer: Kim Hyunseok  \nProduction designer: Zhai Tao  \nCostume designer: Chia-Hui Wang  \nEditors: Matthieu Laclau, Yann-shan Tsai  \nComposer: Guo Sida  \nSales: MK2  \nIn Mandarin  \n  2 hours 11 minutes\n\n## THR Newsletters\nSign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day\n\n[Subscribe Sign Up](https:\/\/cloud.email.hollywoodreporter.com\/signup\/)","meta_canonical":null}

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Boilerpipe Text	Skip to main content Home Movies Movie Reviews ‘The Sun Rises on Us All’ Review: Two Terrific Actors Carry a Soul-Crushing Chinese Drama That Keeps Striking the Same Note 'People Mountain People Sea' director Cai Shangjun returns to competition in Venice with a story about two former lovers trying to move on from their dark past. 'The Sun Rises on Us All' Venice Film Festival The weight of the past comes crashing down on a pair of ex-lovers in Chinese director Cai Shangjun’s latest drama, which asks whether it’s possible to forgive and forget — or even to go on living when your bad deeds keep coming back to haunt you. This superbly acted, impeccably crafted if rather overwrought two-hander is called The Sun Rises on Us All ( Ri Gua Zhong Tian ), a title that gives us some hope that its doomed couple may eventually find some solace, or at least a bit of sunshine. But will they? The Sun Rises On Us All The Bottom Line Impressively performed but over-the-top. Venue: Venice Film Festival (Competition) Cast: Xin Zhilei, Zhang Songwen, Feng Shaofeng Director: Cai Shangjun Screenwriters: Cai Shangjun, Han Nianjin 2 hours 11 minutes Not every star-crossed romance begins with its two protagonists accidentally bumping into each other in a crowded public hospital, which they’re both visiting for not-so-great reasons. And yet that’s how 30-something shopkeeper Meiyun (Xin Zhilei, winner of the fest’s Best Actress prize) winds up seeing Baoshu (Zhang Songwen) for the first time in many years. The sight of him, hunched over and sickly, gives Meiyun the chills. Or maybe she’s freaking out because she’s just had an ultrasound confirming she’s pregnant, although the doctor can’t detect a heartbeat yet. Cai, who co-wrote the script with Han Nianjin, lays the sauce on thick from the get-go, but also withholds lots of key information about Meiyun and Baoshu’s mysterious connection. The latter then disappears for a while so we can focus more on Meiyun’s dreary life. During the daytime, she livestreams fashion videos at her shopping mall clothing store. At night, she sometimes sleeps with a paranoid married man (Shaofeng Feng), who is being blackmailed about their affair and seems unwilling to commit to something more serious. In other words, Meiyun doesn’t have much to be happy about, rarely cracking a smile unless she’s posting content for her business. But the woman is also a fighter who wants to keep the baby, even if her current lover seems to have major doubts about their relationship. All of this is happening just as Baoshu suddenly drops back into her life, prompting Meiyun to visit him again at the hospital, where we learn he’s been operated on for Stage IV stomach cancer. Baoshu thus doesn’t have much to be happy about, either, and he drags himself around in either wincing pain or a deep state of loss. Slowly but surely, Cai unveils the backstory between him and Meiyun, revealing how they were once in love, until a fateful accident tore them apart. It’s not worth spoiling what happened — and the movie takes its sweet time to fully explain all of that — but let’s just say that Meiyun owes her ex quite a lot for what he went through. Most romantic dramas go from meet-cute to hooking up to some kind of major dilemma, but The Sun Rises on Us All heads in the opposite direction. The dilemma’s already been there for some time, and now Meiyun and Baoshu have to figure out how to move on from it, or not. Cai focuses on their many regrets and misgivings, not to mention all the guilt weighing on Meiyun, who carries it around like a giant emotional ball and chain. Can love somehow emerge from such a mess? That’s what we start hoping, and the film’s best sections show how the weary pair tries to kickstart a new life together, both out of necessity and, on Meiyun’s part, a sort of rekindled desire. And yet anyone who’s seen Cai’s incredibly bleak 2011 thriller, People Mountain People Sea , knows that we’re probably not headed toward a big happy wedding at the finale. Indeed, the director begins to pile on the punishment from one scene to the next, sometimes to an effective degree, sometimes in ways that boil over into pure melodrama. One well-observed sequence has Meiyun chasing down a debt for her clothing business, only to find herself facing a woman in exactly the same sort of predicament. But a scene where she and Baoshu get stuck in an elevator seems overtly symbolic and a tad too much like a deus ex machina, albeit one that doesn’t save either of them from impending doom. The elevator scene also showcases the impressive range of both lead actors, who aren’t afraid to go overboard in the film’s more fiery moments, of which there are quite a few. Xin is especially a revelation here, portraying a character who shifts from fake-smiling into her phone so she can sell dresses on social media to begging for the kind of life-changing reprieve she may never be granted. Even if The Sun Rises on Us All is the story of a couple — or rather, a couple that could have been — the movie really belongs to Meiyun, who suffers not only for the bargain she made years ago, but for committing the sin of being a woman. (Let’s not even discuss what happens with her pregnancy.) Cai deliberately portrays his heroine as an average working-class girl, hinting at what a tough thing that is in a cutthroat country like China, and perhaps justifying Meiyun’s final, desperate act as one of ultimate emancipation. Full credits Venue: Venice Film Festival (Competition) Cast: Xin Zhilei, Zhang Songwen, Feng Shaofeng Production companies: Guangzhou Mint Pictures, Guangzhou Zizai Media Director: Cai Shangjun Screenwriters: Cai Shangjun, Han Nianjin Producers: Ma Shuang, Justine O., Huang Titi, Shen Shuo, Sean Ren Executive producers: Cai Shangjun, Wang Haifeng Cinematographer: Kim Hyunseok Production designer: Zhai Tao Costume designer: Chia-Hui Wang Editors: Matthieu Laclau, Yann-shan Tsai Composer: Guo Sida Sales: MK2 In Mandarin 2 hours 11 minutes THR Newsletters Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day Subscribe Sign Up
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[Print the Article](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/the-sun-rises-on-us-all-review-1236363484/) - [Post a Comment](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/the-sun-rises-on-us-all-review-1236363484/#respond) The weight of the past comes crashing down on a pair of ex-lovers in Chinese director Cai Shangjun’s latest drama, which asks whether it’s possible to forgive and forget — or even to go on living when your bad deeds keep coming back to haunt you. This superbly acted, impeccably crafted if rather overwrought two-hander is called The Sun Rises on Us All (Ri Gua Zhong Tian), a title that gives us some hope that its doomed couple may eventually find some solace, or at least a bit of sunshine. But will they? ### The Sun Rises On Us All The Bottom Line Impressively performed but over-the-top. Venue: Venice Film Festival (Competition) Cast: Xin Zhilei, Zhang Songwen, Feng Shaofeng Director: Cai Shangjun Screenwriters: Cai Shangjun, Han Nianjin 2 hours 11 minutes Not every star-crossed romance begins with its two protagonists accidentally bumping into each other in a crowded public hospital, which they’re both visiting for not-so-great reasons. And yet that’s how 30-something shopkeeper Meiyun (Xin Zhilei, winner of the fest’s Best Actress prize) winds up seeing Baoshu (Zhang Songwen) for the first time in many years. The sight of him, hunched over and sickly, gives Meiyun the chills. Or maybe she’s freaking out because she’s just had an ultrasound confirming she’s pregnant, although the doctor can’t detect a heartbeat yet. ### Related Stories [![Marine Johnson, right, on set as Edith Blais in The Hourglass.](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/SABLIER_EDITH-ET-MARINE-HOR.jpg?w=1500)](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/marine-johnson-luca-colucci-kim-nguyen-the-hourglass-1236564053/) [Movies](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/c/movies/) ### [Marine Johnson, Luca Colucci Lead Kim Nguyen's 'The Hourglass' Hostage Drama (Exclusive)](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/marine-johnson-luca-colucci-kim-nguyen-the-hourglass-1236564053/) [![Willem Dafoe](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Willem-Dafoe-Photo-Andrea-Avezzu-Courtesy-La-Biennale-di-Venezia.jpg?w=1500)](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/lifestyle-news/willem-dafoe-interview-venice-theater-festival-2026-1236544212/) [Lifestyle](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/c/lifestyle/) ### [Willem Dafoe on His Venice Theater Program: "I Miss the Amateur Spirit"](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/lifestyle-news/willem-dafoe-interview-venice-theater-festival-2026-1236544212/) Cai, who co-wrote the script with Han Nianjin, lays the sauce on thick from the get-go, but also withholds lots of key information about Meiyun and Baoshu’s mysterious connection. The latter then disappears for a while so we can focus more on Meiyun’s dreary life. During the daytime, she livestreams fashion videos at her shopping mall clothing store. At night, she sometimes sleeps with a paranoid married man (Shaofeng Feng), who is being blackmailed about their affair and seems unwilling to commit to something more serious. In other words, Meiyun doesn’t have much to be happy about, rarely cracking a smile unless she’s posting content for her business. But the woman is also a fighter who wants to keep the baby, even if her current lover seems to have major doubts about their relationship. All of this is happening just as Baoshu suddenly drops back into her life, prompting Meiyun to visit him again at the hospital, where we learn he’s been operated on for Stage IV stomach cancer. Baoshu thus doesn’t have much to be happy about, either, and he drags himself around in either wincing pain or a deep state of loss. Slowly but surely, Cai unveils the backstory between him and Meiyun, revealing how they were once in love, until a fateful accident tore them apart. It’s not worth spoiling what happened — and the movie takes its sweet time to fully explain all of that — but let’s just say that Meiyun owes her ex quite a lot for what he went through. Most romantic dramas go from meet-cute to hooking up to some kind of major dilemma, but The Sun Rises on Us All heads in the opposite direction. The dilemma’s already been there for some time, and now Meiyun and Baoshu have to figure out how to move on from it, or not. Cai focuses on their many regrets and misgivings, not to mention all the guilt weighing on Meiyun, who carries it around like a giant emotional ball and chain. Can love somehow emerge from such a mess? That’s what we start hoping, and the film’s best sections show how the weary pair tries to kickstart a new life together, both out of necessity and, on Meiyun’s part, a sort of rekindled desire. And yet anyone who’s seen Cai’s incredibly bleak 2011 thriller, People Mountain People Sea, knows that we’re probably not headed toward a big happy wedding at the finale. Indeed, the director begins to pile on the punishment from one scene to the next, sometimes to an effective degree, sometimes in ways that boil over into pure melodrama. One well-observed sequence has Meiyun chasing down a debt for her clothing business, only to find herself facing a woman in exactly the same sort of predicament. But a scene where she and Baoshu get stuck in an elevator seems overtly symbolic and a tad too much like a deus ex machina, albeit one that doesn’t save either of them from impending doom. The elevator scene also showcases the impressive range of both lead actors, who aren’t afraid to go overboard in the film’s more fiery moments, of which there are quite a few. Xin is especially a revelation here, portraying a character who shifts from fake-smiling into her phone so she can sell dresses on social media to begging for the kind of life-changing reprieve she may never be granted. Even if The Sun Rises on Us All is the story of a couple — or rather, a couple that could have been — the movie really belongs to Meiyun, who suffers not only for the bargain she made years ago, but for committing the sin of being a woman. (Let’s not even discuss what happens with her pregnancy.) Cai deliberately portrays his heroine as an average working-class girl, hinting at what a tough thing that is in a cutthroat country like China, and perhaps justifying Meiyun’s final, desperate act as one of ultimate emancipation. ## Full credits Venue: Venice Film Festival (Competition) Cast: Xin Zhilei, Zhang Songwen, Feng Shaofeng Production companies: Guangzhou Mint Pictures, Guangzhou Zizai Media Director: Cai Shangjun Screenwriters: Cai Shangjun, Han Nianjin Producers: Ma Shuang, Justine O., Huang Titi, Shen Shuo, Sean Ren Executive producers: Cai Shangjun, Wang Haifeng Cinematographer: Kim Hyunseok Production designer: Zhai Tao Costume designer: Chia-Hui Wang Editors: Matthieu Laclau, Yann-shan Tsai Composer: Guo Sida Sales: MK2 In Mandarin 2 hours 11 minutes ### Read More About: - [venice](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/venice/) - [Venice 2025](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/venice-2025/) - [Venice Film Festival](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/venice-film-festival-2/) - [Venice Film Festival 2025](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/venice-film-festival-2025/) ## THR Newsletters Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day [Subscribe Sign Up](https://cloud.email.hollywoodreporter.com/signup/) ## More from The Hollywood Reporter - [Saudi Arabia](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/saudi-arabia/) ### [She Broke Barriers as a Production CEO in the Middle East. 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Readable Markdown	[Skip to main content](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/the-sun-rises-on-us-all-review-1236363484/#pagetop) - [Home](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/) - [Movies](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/c/movies/) - [Movie Reviews](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/c/movies/movie-reviews/) ## ‘The Sun Rises on Us All’ Review: Two Terrific Actors Carry a Soul-Crushing Chinese Drama That Keeps Striking the Same Note 'People Mountain People Sea' director Cai Shangjun returns to competition in Venice with a story about two former lovers trying to move on from their dark past. ![The Sun Rises on Us All](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/102862-RI_GUA_ZHONG_TIAN__THE_SUN_RISES_ON_US_ALL__-_Xin_Zhilei_and_Zhang_Songwen-H-2025.jpg?w=1296&h=730&crop=1) 'The Sun Rises on Us All' Venice Film Festival The weight of the past comes crashing down on a pair of ex-lovers in Chinese director Cai Shangjun’s latest drama, which asks whether it’s possible to forgive and forget — or even to go on living when your bad deeds keep coming back to haunt you. This superbly acted, impeccably crafted if rather overwrought two-hander is called The Sun Rises on Us All (Ri Gua Zhong Tian), a title that gives us some hope that its doomed couple may eventually find some solace, or at least a bit of sunshine. But will they? ### The Sun Rises On Us All The Bottom Line Impressively performed but over-the-top. Venue: Venice Film Festival (Competition) Cast: Xin Zhilei, Zhang Songwen, Feng Shaofeng Director: Cai Shangjun Screenwriters: Cai Shangjun, Han Nianjin 2 hours 11 minutes Not every star-crossed romance begins with its two protagonists accidentally bumping into each other in a crowded public hospital, which they’re both visiting for not-so-great reasons. And yet that’s how 30-something shopkeeper Meiyun (Xin Zhilei, winner of the fest’s Best Actress prize) winds up seeing Baoshu (Zhang Songwen) for the first time in many years. The sight of him, hunched over and sickly, gives Meiyun the chills. Or maybe she’s freaking out because she’s just had an ultrasound confirming she’s pregnant, although the doctor can’t detect a heartbeat yet. Cai, who co-wrote the script with Han Nianjin, lays the sauce on thick from the get-go, but also withholds lots of key information about Meiyun and Baoshu’s mysterious connection. The latter then disappears for a while so we can focus more on Meiyun’s dreary life. During the daytime, she livestreams fashion videos at her shopping mall clothing store. At night, she sometimes sleeps with a paranoid married man (Shaofeng Feng), who is being blackmailed about their affair and seems unwilling to commit to something more serious. In other words, Meiyun doesn’t have much to be happy about, rarely cracking a smile unless she’s posting content for her business. But the woman is also a fighter who wants to keep the baby, even if her current lover seems to have major doubts about their relationship. All of this is happening just as Baoshu suddenly drops back into her life, prompting Meiyun to visit him again at the hospital, where we learn he’s been operated on for Stage IV stomach cancer. Baoshu thus doesn’t have much to be happy about, either, and he drags himself around in either wincing pain or a deep state of loss. Slowly but surely, Cai unveils the backstory between him and Meiyun, revealing how they were once in love, until a fateful accident tore them apart. It’s not worth spoiling what happened — and the movie takes its sweet time to fully explain all of that — but let’s just say that Meiyun owes her ex quite a lot for what he went through. Most romantic dramas go from meet-cute to hooking up to some kind of major dilemma, but The Sun Rises on Us All heads in the opposite direction. The dilemma’s already been there for some time, and now Meiyun and Baoshu have to figure out how to move on from it, or not. Cai focuses on their many regrets and misgivings, not to mention all the guilt weighing on Meiyun, who carries it around like a giant emotional ball and chain. Can love somehow emerge from such a mess? That’s what we start hoping, and the film’s best sections show how the weary pair tries to kickstart a new life together, both out of necessity and, on Meiyun’s part, a sort of rekindled desire. And yet anyone who’s seen Cai’s incredibly bleak 2011 thriller, People Mountain People Sea, knows that we’re probably not headed toward a big happy wedding at the finale. Indeed, the director begins to pile on the punishment from one scene to the next, sometimes to an effective degree, sometimes in ways that boil over into pure melodrama. One well-observed sequence has Meiyun chasing down a debt for her clothing business, only to find herself facing a woman in exactly the same sort of predicament. But a scene where she and Baoshu get stuck in an elevator seems overtly symbolic and a tad too much like a deus ex machina, albeit one that doesn’t save either of them from impending doom. The elevator scene also showcases the impressive range of both lead actors, who aren’t afraid to go overboard in the film’s more fiery moments, of which there are quite a few. Xin is especially a revelation here, portraying a character who shifts from fake-smiling into her phone so she can sell dresses on social media to begging for the kind of life-changing reprieve she may never be granted. Even if The Sun Rises on Us All is the story of a couple — or rather, a couple that could have been — the movie really belongs to Meiyun, who suffers not only for the bargain she made years ago, but for committing the sin of being a woman. (Let’s not even discuss what happens with her pregnancy.) Cai deliberately portrays his heroine as an average working-class girl, hinting at what a tough thing that is in a cutthroat country like China, and perhaps justifying Meiyun’s final, desperate act as one of ultimate emancipation. ## Full credits Venue: Venice Film Festival (Competition) Cast: Xin Zhilei, Zhang Songwen, Feng Shaofeng Production companies: Guangzhou Mint Pictures, Guangzhou Zizai Media Director: Cai Shangjun Screenwriters: Cai Shangjun, Han Nianjin Producers: Ma Shuang, Justine O., Huang Titi, Shen Shuo, Sean Ren Executive producers: Cai Shangjun, Wang Haifeng Cinematographer: Kim Hyunseok Production designer: Zhai Tao Costume designer: Chia-Hui Wang Editors: Matthieu Laclau, Yann-shan Tsai Composer: Guo Sida Sales: MK2 In Mandarin 2 hours 11 minutes ## THR Newsletters Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day [Subscribe Sign Up](https://cloud.email.hollywoodreporter.com/signup/)
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