Why you can trust GamesRadar+
This personal project from Chinese filmmaker Wang Xiaoshuai is a poignant family melodrama. The story begins in 1983, when the Cultural Revolution had finished and Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms were taking root in the big cities. Factory worker Zemin (Yao Anlian) is desperate to return to Shanghai, but his teenage schoolgirl daughter Qinhong (Gao Yuanyuan) regards this rural backwater as home, and to her father’s fury has begun seeing a local apprentice.
Shanghai Dreams is an impressive evocation of a particular historical moment and Xiaoshuai has a fine eye and ear for youth subcultures – witness the underground dance party where kids shred the floor to Boney M. Austerely shot, with the characters often kept at a distance from the camera, it also features a powerfully tragic and moving performance from Anlian’s obstinate patriarch.
The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine.

"Most of the games that are Metroidvanias are just Metroid games": The director of this Smash Bros-infused Metroidvania hates the word because "it's a silly term and Japan did it better"

Nab a dinky Lego Star Wars Millennium Falcon for its lowest price ever

"Drop the price": Nintendo's Treehouse stream overshadowed by players noisily protesting the Switch 2's hefty cost