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Ocean Heaven

Haiyang tiantang

China, Hong Kong

2010

96 Min
Color
1.85:1
Mandarin
  • Currently 3.0/5 Stars.
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DIR Xue Xiao Lu

PROD William Kong, Hao Lee, Ma Hefeng

SCR Xue Xiao Lu

DP Christopher Doyle

CAST Jet Li, Wen Zhang, Kwai Lunmei, Gao Yuanyuan, Zhu Yuanyuan, Dong Yang

ED William Chang, Yang Hongyu

PROD DES Yee Chung Man

MUSIC Joe Hisaishi

SOUND He Wei

Synopsis

Ocean Heaven follows a terminally ill father working in an aquarium and struggles to look after his 21 year old autistic son Dafu (Wen Zhang)who attempts to find his son a suitable home before he passes away. The father Sam Wong (played by Jet Li) has single handedly brought up his son since his wife passed away 14 years ago and looks after him day and night attempting to help him learn basic tasks in order to care for himself. As the story goes along, you see the heart warming relationship between both father and son as well as the community around them, who become closer as the film develops. Many of the scenes are in the aquarium where Dafu is seen swimming with ease and tranquillity which has become some of the most memorable aspects of the film. He is also seen with dolphins. Ling ling (Kwai Lun-mei) plays the role of a clown who is part of a small circus and who gets on well with Dafu becoming friends which leads to them spending time together. But later, she moves along to another place with the circus, and Dafu never sees her again.
According to the U.S. Centres of Disease Control, one person out of every 110 is born with autism. It follows that China has over 10 million autism patients. Dafu, show many signs of autism by walking in straight lines and will only turn after stopping and turning, repeating after people constantly putting everything in perfect order. Dafu is seen as a happy character always wanting to play and be with companies. —Wikipedia

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javier quintero

14Oct11

It's really strange to see Jet Li as an autistic teenager's father. This movie is not interesting at all mainly because of the schematic drama, predectability and manipulative generic resources in acting, music and montage. Doyle, miss Kwai and even Li are notably wasted here.

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Blu-ray Review: OCEAN HEAVEN

By Twitchfilm.com on February 7, 2012
Ocean Heaven is not the kind of film I normally go for. This film is a tearjerker, the kind of film that would have my wife weeping openly at the predetermined beats, just as the director intended. I tend
read on Twitchfilm.com

NYAFF 2011: OCEAN HEAVEN Review

By Twitchfilm.com on December 16, 2011
I won’t lie: everything about the drama Ocean Heaven reeks of the kind of treacly drama and straining for “seriousness” that every action star seems to go through at least once in their career. In this
read on Twitchfilm.com

OCEAN HEAVEN Review

By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011
Jet Li finally appears to be making good on his promise to retire from martial arts filmmaking with this small-scale tearjerker that is notably devoid of anything approaching action. Li plays Wang, a maintenance
read on Twitchfilm.com

Jet Li holds back Fast Kicks for Fatherly Love in OCEAN HEAVEN

By Twitchfilm.com on April 29, 2011
Yep, you read the headline correctly.  In the upcoming Chinese drama Ocean Heaven (海洋天堂), action star Jet Li will perform no martial arts whatsoever.  On the contrary, Li took a pay-cut to his usual high
read on Twitchfilm.com

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