Movie

Embers

2026 · 114 min

A somber yet oddly uplifting journey through grief and absurdity, anchored by quiet, heartfelt performances.

Directed by: Aoqian Sun
Genres: Drama, Crime
Starring: Song Jia, Wen Qi, Zu Feng

Overview: Huang Yan, a terminally ill crematorium worker, accidentally mixed up two sets of ashes during her work. When she confessed the truth, neither family wanted to swap them back. Only Yao Xue, the daughter of one of the deceased, believed Huang Yan. The two embarked on a wild and absurd journey to return the ashes, where they came to understand life anew and chose to live bravely in the face of death.

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In the UKNo streaming, rental or purchase options known.

Directed by: Aoqian Sun
Genres: Drama, Crime
Starring: Song Jia, Wen Qi, Zu Feng

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How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone: melancholicstrength 2 of 3
absurdstrength 2 of 3
warmstrength 2 of 3
darkstrength 1 of 3
Pacing: measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention: engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes: death
grief
family
identity
healing
Places: small town
road trip
Era: contemporary
Audience: adult
Form: nonlinear
Content intensity: Gore mild
Language mild
Violence mild
Sex none

All scales, 0 to 10

Scales, 0 to 10
Scale	Value	0 to 10
Action	3
Horror	2
Humour	4
Realism	7
Romance	1
Tension	5
Darkness	7
Complexity	6
Emotional weight	8

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Where to watch in the UK

No UK streaming, rental or purchase options are known.

Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres: drama, crime
Directed by: Aoqian Sun
Written by: Aoqian Sun
Starring: Song Jia, Wen Qi, Zu Feng, Zhang Zhanyi, Ma Ling
Music: Hank Lee
Cinematography: Cong Zhou
Runtime: 114 min
Country: China
Languages: Mandarin

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Embers

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