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Black Tea

2024

Nina Melo, Chang Han, Michael Chang, Patty Wu ...

Drama. Romance Aya is a woman in her early thirties. After astonishing everyone by saying “No” on her wedding day, she leaves the Ivory Coast for a new life in China. Living in an area where the African diaspora meets the Chinese culture, she finds a job in a tea boutique owned by Cai, a 45-year-old Chinese man. In the privacy of the shop’s backroom, Cai initiates Aya into the Chinese tea ceremony. As he teaches her this ancient art, their ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Guy Lodge Variety	"Disappointingly weak brew (...) the film aims for woozy sensualism but falls way short on the ambient richness and X-factor chemistry required to sell such an essentially confected exercise"	NEG
United Kingdom	Jonathan Romney Screendaily	"Yet however appealing the blend sometimes is, this wildly eccentric film ultimately feels a few leaves short of a pot"	NEU
United States	Jordan Mintzer The Hollywood Reporter	"It’s too bad the rest of Black Tea fails to live up to that standard, taking an intriguing character like Aya to a fascinating place, only to lose us along the way"	NEU
	Fabien Lemercier Cineuropa	"Abderrahmane Sissako breaks down the boundaries between Africa and Asia, dream and reality, and past and present in an enigmatic and melancholy film on love and freedom"	POS
Hong Kong	Clarence Tsui South China Morning Post	"A massive disappointment (...) It does not live up to its promise, with stilted dialogue, shallow characters and a tone-deaf representation of the African diaspora’s experience in the country"	NEG
United States	Rachel Pronger IndieWire	"For all its comforting warmth, Sissako’s film ultimately lacks the deeper complexity of its namesake, even if watching it is often as soothing as sipping a freshly brewed cup"	NEU

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