Writer: Ezekiel Lee Zhiang Yang

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Watch this if you liked: “The Day After Tomorrow”, “Assembly”, “A Very Long Engagement”

Chinese filmmaking ace Feng Xiao Gang ("Assembly" 2007, "The Banquet" 2006) has made IMAX screens in China a rippling goldmine with the Hua Yi Brothers-backed "Aftershock" - a tearjerking triumph of Mainland cinema that is at once more marketable to other regions than the usual fare due to its high production values. It also bears the unlikely distinction of being the first IMAX film that isn't created Stateside.

Drawing from the 1976 Great Tangshan earthquake that had a death toll which is controversially contested up until today to be anything from 200,000 lives to three times that, "Aftershock" is a fictionalised story set during a real-life event (like "Titanic" 1997) and benefits from the unflinching powerhouse portrayal of the filmmaker's actress wife Xu Fan ("One Foot Off The Ground" 2006, "The Founding Of A Republic" 2009) as a mother who had to painfully choose between saving her son or saving her daughter during the atrocities of natural disaster. It is a strong, textured drama with very decent CGI work that doesn't detract from the primary focus of building on themes of guilt, abandonment, closure and redemption - essentially a film all of the Chinese diaspora worldwide can relate to.

Sparing you of a more detailed synopsis is probably the best idea considering its epic landscape of a story that encompasses events such as Mao Zedong's death. It can however be disclosed that the five-star performances in "Aftershock" (including Zhang Jing Chu's role as the adult daughter) are a definitely highlight, not to mention it's high entertainment value in balancing drama and action, just like "Assembly".

One can only hope that movies such as this, despite the fiction, serve to remind people the importance of family and just how much emotional resonance is left behind by natural disasters. "Aftershock" is a first grade tearful testament to that.


Cinema Online, 30 July 2010