Mandarin

  • Jin Wang – Chujia nu AKA The Wedding Maidens (1990)

    1991-2000AsianChinaDramaJin Wang

    From Wikipedia:
    The Wedding Maidens (Chinese: 出嫁女; pinyin: Chūjià nǚ) is a 1990 Chinese drama film directed by Wang Jin. It was entered into the 17th Moscow International Film Festival where it won the Special Silver St. George.Read More »

  • Tieli Xie & Yuan Zhao – Hong lou meng AKA A Dream in Red Mansions (1988)

    1981-1990ChinaDramaTieli XieTVYuan Zhao

    Based on the mid-eighteenth century novel by Cao Xueqin, the third version (previous version was 38 episodes) of “A Dream in Red Mansions” (aka Dream of the Red Chamber) is known by many to be the ultimate and best adaptation of the story either on TV or film. It is a story about the tragic love of Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, and the prosperity and decline of the four notable feudal ruling-class families of Jia, Shi, Wang, and Xue. Daiyu is a beautiful and talented girl, but prone to ill health. Baoyu, nonetheless, falls for her over the years and puts up with her sensitivity and ill-tempered personality. They, along with their family-favored and tactful cousin Xue Baochai, reside in the Grand View Garden. The garden was built to honor the visit of Baoyu’s sister, Imperial Consort Jia Yuanchun. Her installment marked the height of the families’ status, prosperity and power. This story also gives praise to the work and revolts of the many servants and nurses in the Grand View Garden. With its beautiful scenery, solid cast ensemble, haunting and superb music score and elegant songs, “A Dream in Red Mansions” remains one of the most beloved and popular Chinese TV-series to date.Read More »

  • Tseng-Chai Chang – Mian Ju AKA Sex for Sale (1974)

    1971-1980DramaEroticaHong KongTseng-Chai Chang

    Lin, a handsome guy from a small village comes to Hong Kong to seek his fortune, only to find himself at a job interview, where he is asked by a beautiful woman, Du Pi to remove his clothing. Being an ambitious sort, the complies, and soon finds himself caught up in a very strange reality. Treated like a slab of meat by powerful women, who demand more than he can give, Lin ultimately disappoints everyone in his life, and moves from place to place, and bed to bed. Older women, young women, even a miserable old woman with no legs (!) expect not only sex from this guy, but also love, devotion, and total submission. Soon, he finds himself alone, and is forced to move in with a sexually confused man, who he finds out too late, is his only true friend.Read More »

  • Vivian Qu – Shuiyin jie AKA Trap Street (2013)

    2011-2020ChinaDramaVivian Qu

    “Shuiyin Jie’s straightforward approach to the harsh reality in 21st century China is as courageous as it is terrifying…” ScreenAnarchyRead More »

  • Chung Sun – Feng lei mo jing AKA The Devil’s Mirror (1972)

    1971-1980Chung SunFantasyHong KongMartial Arts

    In his feature debut, Sun Chung – one of the most interesting filmmakers at Shaw Brothers – helms this wild tale of two martial arts clans who each possess an amazing mirror with supernatural powers. The mirrors are coveted by the evil Jiuxian Witch (Li Chia-hsien), leader of the Bloody Ghouls Clan (sure, name your clan that and how do you expect them to turn out?), who plots to use them to enter the tomb of Emperor Wu and ransack his magical treasure. A gang of masked ninjas – in reality, captive swordsmen poisoned by the witch’s “Corpse Worm Pills” – steal the first mirror from one-legged clan chieftain Bai Tian Xiong (Wang Hsia), whose duplicitous lieutenant, Leng Yun (Tung Lam) drives a wedge between him and rival Chief Wen (Ching Miao). Nobody suspects he is working for the Bloody Ghouls Clan and sneaking off for occasional hot, between the sheets action with the sexy, three-eyed, super-witch. Eventually, star-crossed lovers Bai Xiaofeng (Shu Pei-pei) and Wen Jianfeng (Liu Tan) team-up to see justice is done.Read More »

  • Yimou Zhang – Man cheng jin dai huang jin jia AKA Curse of the Golden Flower [+Extras] (2006)

    Drama2001-2010ActionChinaFifth Generation Chinese CinemaYimou Zhang

    A dying love between two powerful people leads to deceit, infidelity, and conspiracy in this epic-scale historical drama from director Zhang Yimou. During the latter days of the Tang dynasty, the Emperor (Chow Yun-Fat) returns home from the war with his son Prince Jai (Jay Chou) in tow. However, the monarch gets a chilly reception from the Empress (Gong Li); though she’s eager to see her son, her marriage has become deeply acrimonious, and she’s taken a lover, Crown Prince Wan (Liu Ye), her stepson from the Emperor’s first marriage. The Emperor, meanwhile, has his own plan for dealing with his failing marriage — he’s ordered the Imperial Doctor (Ni Dahong) to find an exotic drug that will drive the Empress insane and administer it to her without her knowledge. However, the doctor’s ethical dilemma is intensified by the fact his daughter Chan (Li Man) has fallen in love with Crown Prince Wan and the two wish to elope. As the Emperor and Empress allow their estrangement to sink into violence and retribution, their youngest son, Prince Yu (Qin Junjie), struggles to keep the peace in the household.Read More »

  • Xinyuan Zheng Lu – Ta fang jian li de yun AKA The Cloud in Her Room (2020)

    2011-2020ArthouseDramaHong KongXinyuan Zheng Lu

    Quote:
    It’s winter and 22-year-old Muzi has returned to her home town of Hangzhou for a visit, a new year is around the corner. Her parents are long since separated, her father has a wife and young daughter and her mother is dating, though the old family apartment is still furnished as was. Muzi befriends an older bar owner and her university boyfriend comes looking for her, although no relationships here are straightforward. It takes time to work out how everyone connects to Muzi anyway, there are no explanations or introductions and one scene can shift into another without warning, creating ellipses along the way; it’s less about telling a story than capturing a mood, the same sense of melancholy stasis that settles even over the sudden outbursts of feeling. Yet the camera is always active, eagerly seeking out unusual perspectives and subjective impressions: the damp rock in the vast underground cavern, the lights in the winding corridor of the karaoke bar, the mist that forms by the river at night, the texture of pubic hair in bathwater. In black and white, the urban spaces seem even emptier; when the black and white is inverted, the city looks like a far-of planet and maybe that’s the point. “Every time I come back, it’s more different than before.”Read More »

  • Yang Zhang – Xiang Ri Kui AKA Sunflower [+ Extra] (2005)

    2001-2010AsianChinaDramaYang Zhang

    synopsis
    Relationship between father and son against the background of the Maoist regime in China, starting at the end of the Cultural Revolution in the year that Mao died (1976), and into the following two decades. The father, a painter, had been interned in a labour camp for “re-education”, and lost his ability to paint. Upon being released he teaches his son to draw, but is obsessive about it and doesn’t allow his son any freedom or independence. Their convoluted relationship throughout the son’s childhood and into adulthood is shown in an absorbing way. The film is also a snapshot of the political and social changes that China was undergoing.Read More »

  • Lina Wang – Di yi ci de li bie AKA A First Farewell (2018)

    2011-2020ChinaDramaLina Wang

    When Isa is not at school or working on his parents’ farmyard, he spends carefree days with his friends – until the outside world starts forcing him to say one goodbye after another.Read More »

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