Era as making her “tense and nervous”, and playfully considered directing a comedy for her next film. In addition to dramatizations, The Golden Era incorporates fictional narration, breaking the fourth wall, and faux-documentary interviews throughout the film, an unorthodox structure that gives it elements of experimental cinema. Release The Golden Era made its world premiere on September 6, 2014 at the 71st Venice International Film Festival, where it was shown out-of-competition and selected as the festival's closing film. Hui's previous full-length directorial feature, A Simple Life, also premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2011, where it competed for the Golden Lion. Shortly after its world premiere, The Golden Era made its North American premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, placed under the Masters category and distributed by China Lion Film Distribution Inc. The film continued to appear in other festivals, including the 27th Tokyo International Film Festival while making its first public release on October 1, 2014 in China. On October 17, 2014, The Golden Era was released in the U.S. in a limited run that comprised just 15 theaters over a span of 6 weeks. Home Media Edko Films Ltd. (安樂影片) released The Golden Era on Blu-ray under Region A coding on January 28, 2015. This physical release includes an interactive photo gallery and a making-of featurette. Reception Box office The film had earned ¥51.49 million at the Chinese box office. In its limited US release, The Golden Era earned $102,931 in 15 theaters. Critical reception The Golden Era received mixed to positive reviews. Most reviews praised Ann Hui's direction and insightfulness into Xiao Hong's life, but criticized its running time and the loosely structured narrative. As of June 16, 2015, Rotten Tomatoes has given the film a 63% rating compiled from 5 positive and 3 negative reviews. The average score from those reviews is 6/10. Marcus Goh of Yahoo! Movies Singapore praised the film for its depiction of Xiao Hong, calling The Golden Era a "powerful coming-of-age story". Easternkicks.com's Andrew Heskins found that, though at times "overwhelming", complimented Ann Hui for "seeking to push her methods and styles of storytelling". Boston Herald's James Verniere applauded the film for its "epic telling" of Xiao Hong. In contrast, Daniel M. Gold of The New York Times disliked the film's focus on the negative events of Hong's life, elaborating how this "unintentionally reduces her to a cliché —