Overview
A poignant exploration of love and loss across generations in a rapidly changing world.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- None
- melancholic
- wistful
- contemplative
- quiet evening
- arthouse cinema night
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the film’s ambition, humanism, visual design, and meditation on social change, while some found its final section narratively weak or disconnected.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Tao, Liangzi, and Zhang move through changing social conditions from provincial China to Australia, with wealth and migration altering their relationships.
The narrative moves among 1999, 2014, and 2025 to trace Tao and Zhang’s family across generations.
The film distinguishes its periods through changing image formats, clothing, technology, and social environments.
The family’s movement from China to Australia creates distance between generations, languages, and memories.
Films like Mountains May Depart, and why
Still Life
Like Mountains May Depart, this is an ambitious multi-era Chinese drama about social transformation, intimate relationships, and displacement.
A Better Tomorrow
Both are contemplative, bittersweet dramas tracing fractured families and personal lives against sweeping economic and cultural change.
The Lunchbox
Both combine romantic longing, migration, and shifting identities across time with a reflective, emotionally restrained style.
The Namesake
Like Jia Zhangke’s film, this is a layered international drama about family bonds, diaspora, and the costs of modernization.
Movie Details
- Director
- Jia Zhangke
- Release Date
- 2015-10-30
- Runtime
- 127 min
- Rating
- 7.0 / 10 (263)
Cast
- Zhao Tao
- Zhang Yi
- Liang Jingdong
- Dong Zijian
- Sylvia Chang
- Rong Zishan
- Liu Lu
- Zhubin Li
- Liu Min
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Kino Film Collection
- Rent
- Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Mountains May Depart about?
- Across three eras and two continents, an old love triangle becomes a quietly devastating portrait of China’s transformation and a family’s emotional estrangement.
- What is Mountains May Depart like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Mountains May Depart as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Mountains May Depart violent?
- No — Ember's analysis finds no violence in Mountains May Depart.
- What did critics think of Mountains May Depart?
- Critics broadly praised the film’s ambition, humanism, visual design, and meditation on social change, while some found its final section narratively weak or disconnected.
- Which films are like Mountains May Depart?
- Films with a similar feel include Still Life, A Better Tomorrow, The Lunchbox, and The Namesake.
- How long is Mountains May Depart?
- Mountains May Depart runs 127 minutes.
- Where can I watch Mountains May Depart?
- In United States, Mountains May Depart streams on Kino Film Collection.
