Skip to content
HOLLYWOOD METRICS
HomeAboutCraftNewsAnalyticsScriptsBooksPricingAPIMCP
Catalog/Drama/King of the Children
King of the Children poster
B
Strong
MASTER SCORE 66.5 / 100
1988·Drama·1h 46m

KING OF THE CHILDREN

An unschooled young man, one of the countless victims of Mao's Cultural Revolution, is laboring in the countryside when he is assigned to teach in a nearby school. Gradually, he abandons the Maoist textbook and encourages the barely literate kids to write about their own lives and feelings.

Above the Line
Kaige Chen·DirectorChen Kaige·WriterHe Jianjun·WriterGu Changwei·Director of PhotographyQu Xiaosong·Original Music ComposerMiaomiao Liu·Editor
Cast
Xie Yuan·Lao GarXuewen Yang·Wang FuShaohua Chen·Headmaster ChenCaimei Zhang·LaidiXu Guoqing·Lao HeiGu Changwei·Secretary Wu
Full Crew
(16 credits)
Directing· 2
Chen Kaige·DirectorQiang Xiaolu·Assistant Director
Writing· 3
Chen Kaige·WriterHe Jianjun·WriterZhong A-Cheng·Novel
Camera· 1
Gu Changwei·Director of Photography
Editing· 1
Miaomiao Liu·Editor
Sound & Music· 5
Qu Xiaosong·Original Music ComposerTian Zhuangzhuang·Original Music ComposerTao Jing·Sound DesignerMiaomiao Liu·Sound EditorGu Changning·Sound Supervisor
Art & Design· 2
Shaohua Chen·Art DirectionHong An·Makeup Artist
Production· 2
Wu Tianming·Executive ProducerShaohua Chen·Production Designer
By the Numbers
66.5
OF 100
Master Score
7.1
OF 10
IMDb
—
CRITICS
Rotten Tomatoes
—
Worldwide Gross
0
Oscar Wins
Where to Watch

THE AVAILABILITY MAP

The canonical record of where this film lives across the streaming map.

Provider Index In Progress

Streaming, rental, and purchase availability for this title is being ingested from the TMDB watch-providers feed and will appear here once the next catalog refresh runs. Until then, the canonical source links below remain the fastest route.

Find on TMDB
Poster DNA

THE VISUAL DECONSTRUCTION

A bespoke vision agent's reading of the design language behind King of the Children's key art.

Dominant Palette
3 colors
#B0D8F0
#FFFFFF
#000000
Mood
Humorous
Composition
Centered
Era
1980s
Visual Style
Photographic

“The movie poster features a large, menacing figure with horns and a beard floating above a group of people. The figure has his arms outstretched. Below him are ”

horrorromance
Key Elements
HornsOutfitSuspender
Atmosphere
Bright
Color Mood
Mixed
Setting
Fantasy
Design Score
7/10
More Like This

THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Neighboring films in the catalog's similarity graph.

Keep Going

THREE WAYS DEEPER

Auteur
AUT
MORE BY KAIGE CHEN

Every catalog entry where Kaige Chen is credited as director.

Open
Family
GEN
MORE DRAMA

Top-ranked films inside drama, sorted by master score.

Open
Era
DEC
MORE FROM THE 1980S

The best films of the 1980s, ranked across every available metric.

Open
View on IMDbView on TMDBCatalog
HOLLYWOOD METRICS

The definitive mathematical oracle for cinematic success and creative script intelligence.

74,000+ Films100 Years1.1M+ Reviews
PRODUCT
  • The Hollywood Record · Books
  • Bookshop
  • Dashboard
  • Pricing
  • Script Analysis
  • Watch the Demo
  • The Red List
  • News
  • Analytics
  • API
  • MCP Connector
COMPANY
  • About
  • Track Record
  • Trust & Script Privacy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
CONNECT
  • ▶YouTube
  • ◉Instagram
  • ♪TikTok
  • @Threads
  • fFacebook
Get Started Free →
© 2026 Hollywood Metrics. All rights reserved.Powered by bespoke agents and autonomous agentic workflows