Dying to Survive | Telescope Film
Dying to Survive

Dying to Survive (我不是药神)

Critic Rating

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User Rating

  • China
  • 2018
  • · 117m

Director Muye Wen
Cast Xu Zheng, Eric Wang, Zhou Yiwei, Tan Zhuo, Zhang Yu, Yang Xinming
Genre Comedy, Drama

Dying to Survive is based on the true story of Chen Yong, a Chinese drug dealer suffering from leukemia. Strapped for cash, he begins smuggling a forbidden but effective cancer drug from India and selling it to his fellow cancer patients. What starts as a quick moneymaking scheme ends up changing thousands of lives in this heartrending comedy-drama.

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What are critics saying?

80

Screen Daily by John Berra

Regardless of where it lands politically, Dying to Survive is a rousing piece of torn-from-the-headlines storytelling that delivers laughs and tears in equal measure.

70

Variety by Richard Kuipers

Director and co-writer Wen Muye’s feature debut is a classy crowd-pleaser and an interesting example of a Chinese film that shows public protests and casts officialdom in a frequently unflattering light yet still received the stamp of approval from state censors.

70

The Hollywood Reporter by Deborah Young

Despite its paucity of action and some unnecessary repetitions that extend the running time, the story rolls on smoothly.

50

RogerEbert.com by Simon Abrams

I’d have an easier time accepting the trite, asked-and-answered conclusions that director Muye Wen and co-writers Jianu Han and Wei Zhong lead viewers to if they were more adept at tugging at viewers’ heart-strings.