{{More citations needed|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox film | name = Dam Street | image = Dam_street_poster.jpg | caption = | director = Li Yu | producer = Fang Li<br />Sylvain Bursztejn | writer = Fang Li<br />Li Yu | starring = Liu Yi<br />Huang Xingrao | music = Liu Sijun | cinematography = Wang Wei | editing = Karl Riedl | studio = Laurel Films<br />Rosem Films<br />Fonds Sud Cinema | distributor = Bavaria Film International | released = {{Film date|2005|09|08|Venice|2007|01|17}} | runtime = 93 minutes | language = Mandarin | budget = | native_name = {{Infobox Chinese/Chinese|child=yes|hide=no|header=none| s = 红颜 | t = 紅顏 | p = Hóng yán}} }} '''''Dam Street''''' ({{zh|c=红颜|l=Rouge face}}) is a 2005 Chinese film directed by Li Yu. ''Dam Street'' is Li's second feature film, after 2001's ''Fish and Elephant'' and was produced by screenwriter Fang Li's Laurel Films and Sylvain Bursztejn's French company, Rosem Films.

''Dam Street'', shot mainly in Sichuanese Mandarin, follows the life of a young woman, Xiaoyun in a corner of China's central Sichuan province. The film premiered at the 2005 Venice Film Festival on September 8, and also received a handful of other showings at other festivals, notably Toronto (2005) and Deauville (2006).

Lead actress Liu Yi is a notable Sichuan opera actress (Plum Blossom Award, 2007<ref>{{cite web|url=https://yule.sohu.com/20071204/n253779575.shtml|title=《红颜》女主角刘谊勇夺"梅花奖"|language=zh|date=4 December 2007|accessdate=7 January 2022}}</ref>).

== Story == ''Dam Street'' tells the story of Xiaoyun, a sixteen-year-old girl in Sichuan who discovers that she has become pregnant, shocking her family and community. When the school discovers the scandal, Xiaoyun and her boyfriend, Wang Feng are expelled, with Wang Feng being sent to a vocational school in another city. Xiaoyun, meanwhile, is screamed at by her mother, a teacher at the high school, and her boyfriend's elder sister Wang Zhengyue, a nurse who also helps deliver her child.

Together, the mother and sister lie to Xiaoyun, claiming the child died in birth, while actually arranging for his adoption across the river. Ten years later, Xiaoyun's life is at a standstill in the same small town. She makes a meager living as a singer in a local troupe but otherwise has never left. Eventually she strikes up a friendship with a ten-year-old boy, Xiao Yong who becomes her closest confidante and defender in the community that scorns her.

== Cast == *Liu Yi as Liu Xiaoyun, the film's heroine, a young girl who due to an unforeseen pregnancy sees her life go off-track. *Huang Xingrao as Xiao Yong, a ten-year-old boy who befriends Xiaoyun. *Li Kechun as Su Yunwen, Xiaoyun's mother, a teacher at the school. *Liu Rui as Wang Feng, Xiaoyun's high school boyfriend. *Wang Yizhu as Wang Zhengyue, Wang Feng's elder sister, a nurse.

== Reception == The film, the second by mainland helmer Li Yu, was shown to only a handful of audiences, though it did receive a limited screening in New York, 2007, two years after its premiere in Venice. Critics like Derek Elley of ''Variety'' placed the film in the same vein of other European-inspired Chinese films such as Wang Chao's ''Day and Night'' and Wang Xiaoshuai's ''Shanghai Dreams'' (the latter of which takes place in roughly the same time period of the 1980s); a movement highlighted by muted emotional palettes.<ref name=Elley>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117928177.html?categoryid=31&cs=1|magazine= Variety |author = Elley, Derek| title = Dam Street Review| date = 2005-09-13|accessdate=2008-03-06}}</ref> At the same time, however, Elley found that the muted emotion went too far, resulting in a film that lacked "dramatic heft."<ref name= Elley/>

Manohla Dargis of ''The New York Times'' reviewed the film when it was part of the Museum of Modern Art's Global Lens 2007 series. She noted primarily the film's grim outlook on post-Mao alienation, though she also paid special attention to the film's unique comments on sexual politics.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/2007/01/17/movies/17hong.html| title = Dam Street - Movie - Review - New York Times |author = Dargis, Manohla |newspaper = The New York Times | date = 2007-01-17|accessdate =2008-03-06}}</ref>

===Awards and nominations=== * Venice Film Festival, 2005 ** C.I.C.A.E. Award * Flanders International Film Festival, 2005 ** Best Director, Li Yu<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=The Hollywood Reporter|page=54|title=Jones' 'Burials' wins latest kudos at Flanders|last=Cendrowicz|first=Leo|date=October 25, 2005}}</ref> * Golden Rooster Awards, 2005 ** Best Supporting Actress, Li Kechun (nominated) * Deauville Asian Film Festival, 2006 ** Lotus du Meilleur Film

== References == {{reflist}}

== External links == * {{IMDb title|0477719|Dam Street}} * {{rotten Tomatoes|dam_street|Dam Street}} * {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070816210819/http://www.globalfilm.org/lens07/dam_street.htm ''Dam Street'']}} from the Global Film Initiative * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080425131647/http://www.celluloidnotes.net/dam-street/ A review of Dam Street] from Celluloid Notes

{{Li Yu}}

Category:2005 films Category:2005 drama films Category:Films set in Sichuan Category:Teenage pregnancy in film Category:Films directed by Li Yu Category:Chinese drama films Category:2005 Chinese films Category:Films set in the 1980s Category:Films set in the 1990s Category:Films shot in Sichuan Category:Films about mother–son relationships