Chinese Cinema
Alice's collection of Chinese films is growing as the film industry there expands and begins to embrace an ever-increasing international audience. Films from China are often marked by great craft and attention to detail, and the stories are involved and often carry a political subtext. Though we have very little that is pre-1990, there is everything here from engaging personal stories to sweeping historical epics.
Pictured: Maggie Cheung in the stylized and breath-takingly beautiful 'Hero' from master craftsman Zhang Yimou.
Chungking Express (1994)
8.1/10
Director: Wong Kar-wai
Starring: Tony Leung (Chiu Wai), Faye Wong, Brigitte Lin, Valerie Chow
This intoxicating slice of Hong Kong romance noir is split into two stories: A cop gets dumped by his Girlfriend and tries to fall in love with the ne... Read more
City of Life and Death (2009)
7.7/10
Director: Chuan Lu
Starring: Hideo Nakaizumi, Ye Liu, Wei Fan, Yuanyuan Gao
Director Chuan Lu pulls off a rare feat by providing a clear-eyed drama about an event in Chinese-Japanese history - the 1937 Rape of Nanking followin... Read more
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
7.9/10
Director: Ang Lee
Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Chang Chen, Zhang Ziyi
A pair of martial arts masters and would-be lovers, an independent young woman with a dark secret, and the search for a stolen mystical sword all come... Read more
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ( Blu-ray ) (2000)
7.9/10
Director: Ang Lee
Starring: Chang Chen, Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi
A pair of martial arts masters and would-be lovers, an independent young woman with a dark secret, and the search for a stolen mystical sword all come... Read more
Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)
7/10
Director: Zhang Yimou
Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Gong Li, Jay Chou, Liu Ye, Dahong Ni, Junjie Qin, Man Li
Zhang Yimou's characteristically lush historical melodrama, set near the end of theTang Dynasty, with Chow Yun-Fat as the Emperor whose wife (Gong Li)... Read more
Dangerous Liaisons (2012)
5.9/10
Director: Hur Jin-ho
Starring: Lisa Lu, Zhang Ziyi, Cecilia Cheung, Dong-gun Jang, Shawn Dou
1930s Shanghai: the glamorous, tumultuous "Paris of the East" whose salons, streets and bedrooms frame this Chinese adaptation of the French novel "Le... Read more
Empire of Silver (2009)
6.1/10
Director: Christina Yao
Starring: Aaron Kwok, Jennifer Tilly, Tie Lin Zhang, Hao Lei, Ding Zhi Cheng, Lei Zhen Yu
China, 1899. A hedonistic young man, Third Master (Aaron Kwok), must assume the role of heir to a banking empire he cares little about. Following the... Read more
Endless Way (2002)
6.9/10
Director: Shen Wensheng
Starring: Chen Chuang, Xia Lu, Du Jing, Liao Guanzhen
While struggling to bring water to his landlocked village, a young man finds himself torn between responsibility to his ailing mother and his own desi... Read more
Fallen Angels (1995)
7.7/10
Director: Wong Kar-wai
Starring: Leon Lai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Michelle Reis
A hitman's "agent" is falling in love with him, while a silent ex-con breaks into stores at night, opens them up and forces people to buy merchandise... Read more
Farewell My Concubine (1993)
8.1/10
Director: Chen Kaige
Starring: Leslie Cheung, Zhang Fengyi, Gong Li, Lu Qi, Ying Da
A sumptuously detailed panorama of Chinese history as seen through the eyes of two male stars of the Chinese Opera. Joint winner (with 'The Piano') of... Read more