Despite cavernous plot holes and some unabashed Chinese nationalist speechifying, the spectacle of intellect thwarted in mid-flight has a moody resonance.

Begins with a shot of Meryl Streep practicing tai chi, and therein lies a precise encapsulation of the film's attitude toward the intersection of Eastern and Western cultures

The film does a fine job of displaying the contrasts between these tense, formalized Chinese students and the faux populist American academics.

We know we're in strange territory from the opening shot.