Caught by the Tides

Caught by the Tides follows Qiaoqiao, a woman in northern China at the start of the 2000s. She and Guo Bin meet on a dancefloor and begin an intense but fragile relationship. When he leaves for another province to look for work, she waits at first, trusting that he will send for her. As time passes and no return comes, she sets out across the country to find him, moving through a China whose cities and provinces are changing around her.

The film is directed by Jia Zhangke, who wrote the screenplay with Jiahuan Wan. It comes after Ash Is Purest White (2018) in the chronological list of his features, and its story reaches back through material he shot across earlier decades, tracing its heroine through a quarter-century of a transforming country. Zhao Tao plays Qiaoqiao; Zhubin Li plays Guo Bin, with Pan Jianlin, Zhou You, Ren Ke and Mao Tao in supporting roles. The production was a Chinese, French and Japanese co-production.

It was released in November 2024 and runs 111 minutes. On IMDb it holds 6.7 out of 10 from around 2,500 votes, and on TMDB it also stands at 6.7, from a much smaller sample of 66. A critics' rating of 8 out of 10 from 74 reviews places it noticeably above the audience scores, suggesting stronger approval among reviewers than among general viewers.