Joan Chen

  • Tseng Chang & Jian-zhong Huang – Xiao hua (1980)

    1971-1980AsianChinaDramaJian-zhong HuangTseng Chang

    From IMDB: This movie is adapted from the novel Heroes in Tongbai. Xiao Hua, a sister of Zhao Yongsheng, is deserted by her poor family. He Xiangdong, a woodworker, adopts her and rename her He Cuigu. To steer clear of arrest by the enemy, Dong Hongguo, offspring of a revolutionary family, is renamed Xiao Hua so as to be adopted by her adopter. Later, Zhao Yongsheng’s parents are killed by the enemy, he joins the Liberation Army. In 1947, when Zhao Yongsheng returns to his own village Tongbai, his sister Xiao Hua happens to find her brother. Doctor Zhou who works in the hospital of the army, adopts Xiao Hua without knowing she is her own daughter. He Cuigu has become a well-known guerrilla hero after she grows up. She doesn’t recognize her brother Zhao Yongsheng when she carries him on the stretcher. After the war, Zhao Yongsheng, Xiao Hua and Cuigu meet each other happily; Dong Xiangkun and Doctor Zhou also feel happy to reunite with their own daughter after 17 years of departure.Read More »

  • Ang Lee – Se, jie AKA Lust, Caution (2007)

    2001-2010Ang LeeDramaRomanceTaiwan

    Quote:
    Ang Lee’s “Lust, Caution” is first languid, then passionate, as it tells the story of a young woman who joins a political murder plot and then becomes emotionally involved with her enemy. It begins at a 1942 Mah-Jongg game in Hong Kong, when erotic undertones become clearly audible to us, and then flashes back to Shanghai, 1938, during the Japanese occupation of China. One of the rich ladies at the game table is revealed to have been a college student, and not really the wife of a wealthy (but unseen) tycoon.Read More »

  • Shiqing Cheng & Yimou Zhang – Wang chao de nu ren: Yang Gui Fei AKA Lady of the Dynasty (2015)

    Yimou Zhang2011-2020ChinaDramaRomanceShiqing Cheng

    IMDB:
    The tragic story of a Tang Dynasty imperial consort who was the favorite of the Emperor Xuanzong.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 »

  • Yang Zhang – Xiang ri kui AKA Sunflower (2005)

    2001-2010AsianChinaDramaYang Zhang

    Like Douglas Sirk without the throw pillows, “Sunflower” is a shamelessly old-fashioned melodrama performed with such sincerity that resistance is futile. Following a troubled father-son relationship over more than 30 years in post-Cultural Revolution Beijing, the movie utilizes a simple dramatic structure to support a narrative filled with tumultuous social change.Read More »

  • Stanley Kwan – Hong meigui, bai meigui aka Red Rose, White Rose (1994)

    2001-2010AsianHong KongRomanceStanley Kwan

    Chronicles the love life of a man, Zhenbao. He has a steamy fling with the wife of a friend, the saucy and exciting Red Rose. Even though he feels happy with her, he knows he will not end up with her. To maintain his reputation, he marries an antiseptic, frigid but classy lady of a prim and proper background (White rose). Dissonance abound when he finds his bride irritating.Read More »

  • Alice Wu – Saving Face (2004)

    2001-2010Alice WuComedyQueer Cinema(s)RomanceUSA

    Quote:
    A Chinese-American lesbian and her traditionalist mother are reluctant to go public with secret loves that clash against cultural expectations.Read More »

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