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Poster for Aftershock

Aftershock

2010 · 135 min

A sweeping, emotionally devastating saga of survival and forgiveness that lingers long after the credits.

Tagline
23 seconds, 32 years.
Overview
Tangshan, 1976. Two seven-year-old twins are buried under the rubble of the deadliest earthquake of the 20th century. The rescue team explains to their mother that freeing either child will almost certainly result in the death of the other. Forced to make the most difficult decision of her life, she finally chooses to save her son. Though left behind as dead, the little girl miraculously survives, unbeknownst to her brother and mother.

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Rent in the UK
  • BFI Player
More options Data from JustWatch
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How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • melancholicstrength 3 of 3
  • earneststrength 2 of 3
  • darkstrength 2 of 3
  • warmstrength 1 of 3
Pacing
measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • family
  • grief
  • survival
  • guilt
  • redemption
Places
  • small town
  • big city
Era
period
Audience
teen
Form
  • nonlinear
  • ensemble
Content intensity
  • Gore mild
  • Language mild
  • Violence strong
  • Sex mild
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action3
Horror2
Humour1
Realism8
Romance3
Tension6
Darkness7
Complexity6
Emotional weight9

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Where to watch in the UK

Rent
  • BFI Player

Streaming data from JustWatch.All options on TMDB

Details

Genres
drama
Directed by
Feng Xiaogang
Written by
Su Xiaowei
Starring
Xu Fan, Zhang Jingchu, Wang Ziwen, Chen Daoming, Jerry Lee, Chen Jin, Zhang Guoqiang, Zhang Zifeng
Cinematography
Lü Yue
Runtime
135 min
Country
China, Hong Kong
Languages
Mandarin

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