China

  • Jin Xie – Nu lan wu hao AKA Woman Basketball Player No. 5 (1957)

    1951-1960AsianChinaChinese cinema under MaoDramaJin Xie

    Woman Basketball Player No. 5 not only explores the problems that a young female athlete faces in coming to grips with her ambitions in the field of sports, it portrays the fate of two different generations of Chinese athletes, one pre- and the other post-Liberation.Read More »

  • Kaige Chen – Huang tu di AKA Yellow Earth (1984)

    1981-1990ChinaDramaFifth Generation Chinese CinemaKaige ChenMusical

    Michael Brooke, imdb wrote:
    A communist soldier is sent to a remote region of China in order to collect folk songs. Staying with a peasant family (a widower with two small children), he discovers a community whose way of life is completely alien to him, but he gradually wins their trust…Read More »

  • Shuqin Huang – Ren gui qing AKA Woman Demon Human (1987)

    1981-1990AsianChinaDramaShuqin HuangThe Female Gaze

    Based on a true story. A girl born in the “theatrical trunk” grows up under the lights of her parents’ Peking Opera Company. This complete immersion into theatrical life naturally leads her to the stage. She is trained by her father to play traditional roles. Her dream was to be the first woman to play the more significant male roles. This was completely against tradition. She suffers discrimination and humiliation, but in the end turns adversity into admiration when she becomes the first woman to play a great mythical hero in Peking Opera, defying all tradition and destroying all precedents. Breathtaking performances and cinematographic artistry create a powerful and visually stunning tale. No less could be expected from the masterful hand of the brilliant female director, Huang Shuqin.Read More »

  • Yen-ping Chu – Yi shi er niao AKA One Stone and Two Birds (2005)

    2001-2010ActionAsianChinaComedyYen-ping Chu

    During the reign of Emperor Jia Jing of the Ming Dynasty, the evil court official Yan Song relies on the emperor favoritism towards him, becoming overbearing and domineering. An honest official Zhang Ying Long impeaches Yan Song w/ a “Ten Cimes Five Deceits” against him. But instead he gets flogged 30 times, and banished to a far off frontier Guizhou.Read More »

  • Zhangke Jia – Lai Fang AKA Visit (2020)

    2011-2020AsianChinaShort FilmZhangke Jia

    Synopsis
    The idea is to create a film at home, using the environment, the people or the animals in that space. The only outdoor areas that may be used are outdoor living spaces, such as the terrace, the garden, the balcony and the stairwell.Read More »

  • Gan Bi – Nanfang AKA South (2010)

    2001-2010AsianChinaGan BiShort Film

    Quote:
    Original Title in Chinese: 南方
    When studying in campus, Gan Bi (Kaili Blues and Long Day’s Journey Into Night) finished his first work Nanfang (South) in 2010. This work got a golden prize of the best film in the film festival of his school.

    It is said that Gan Bi doesn’t care about the preservation of the digital copies of his works. Two of his early works are not easy to find. And this one is the best quality I can find. And another work called Laohu (Tiger) is still no resources…Read More »

  • Kaige Chen – He ni zai yi qi AKA Together with You AKA Together (2002)

    2001-2010ChinaDramaKaige Chen

    Synopsis:
    Liu Xiaochun (Tang Yun), a 13-year-old violin prodigy, and his devoted father, Liu Cheng (Liu Peiqi), leave their provincial Chinese town for Beijing, hoping to find a violin teacher and, ultimately, success. The teenager is at first coached by the eccentric professor Jiang (Wang Zhiwen), but he is soon replaced with the renowned professor Yu (Chen Kaige). The day of the big competition is fast approaching, and Xiaochun must decide if this new, high-pressure life is right for himRead More »

  • Yi’nan Diao – Ye che AKA Night Train (2007)

    2001-2010AsianChinaDramaYi'nan Diao

    Wu Hongyan is a young woman working as a prison guard during executions of female convicts. She feels lonely after her husband died, and she takes a night train to another city to visit a dating service. After a series of unsuccessful dates, she meets Li Jun. It quickly becomes obvious that he is hiding a secret: he is the widower of one of the female convicts of which Wu Hongyan assisted in the execution. Li Jun is torn apart by his feelings, as he is both attracted to Wu Hongyan, and having a desire for revenge for his executed wife.Read More »

  • Xiaoshuai Wang – Dijiutianchang AKA So Long, My Son (2019)

    2011-2020ArthouseChinaDramaXiaoshuai Wang

    ‘We’re waiting to grow old’. This sentence briefly sums up Yaoyun and his wife Liyun’s bitter realisation about their lives. They were once a happy family – until their son drowned playing by a reservoir. And so Yaojun and Liyun leave their home and plunge into the big city, although nobody knows them there and they cannot even understand the local dialect. Their adopted son Liu Xing does not offer them the comfort they had hoped for either. Defiantly rejecting his ‘foreign’ parents, he one day disappears altogether. The married couple are repeatedly enmeshed in their memories. Finally, they decide to return to the site of their lost hopes.Read More »

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