“Summer Palace,” which was first shown in competition at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, is remarkable for its candor about politics and sex. Perhaps unsurprisingly, its honesty has not been appreciated by Chinese authorities, who banned Mr. Lou from making movies for five years after he brought it to Cannes without their permission. But the film’s ardent, unsentimental embrace of youthful idealism is likely to strike a chord with anyone who can recall — or imagine — such feelings overtaking his or her own life.--
The New York Times
