SF/Bay Area "tea" Movie

I actually saw a screening of this movie in DC some months ago and while I thought it was interesting in many areas, it did seem to be about the person Mr. Hoffman more than it was about tea in the generic sense (which is not inconsistent with the description provided in the link above, but which is different from what I expected when I saw the movie). I wish they had more of a diversity of viewpoints in the movie. Sometimes it seemed like the movie was meant to show how Hoffman was going to save the tea industry in China, which kind of bothered me for some reason. I am not sure why. It is not that I thought the points in the movie about organic agriculture and so forth lacked validity, but I'm not sure the movie explored the full scope of why things are the way they are in China. Maybe the problem is that neither Hoffman, despite his frequent travels to China, nor the filmmakers, speak Chinese. That necessarily makes it really difficult to portray a balanced view on the Chinese tea industry. Nonetheless, the film provided some interesting footage of tea cultivation and gave me something to ponder for a while. I saw an incomplete "director's cut", so I'm not sure what has changed--notably, I think the filming ended some time ago, meaning there is likely a lack of information on the development of tea in the last several years.

I'd be curious to hear what others think of this movie. I saw it some time ago and so don't remember it very clearly. I do remember that the audience liked it.

cha bing

Thanks so much for this input. I am very happy to read your criticism and since we'll be seeing the film on the 28th., I'll share my viewpoint, as well. Shen