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.
Sacrifice (2010)
6.2/10
Director: Chen Kaige
Starring: Ge You, Wang Xueqi, Zhang Fengyi
A powerful General (Wang Xueqi) at the court of Duke Ling decides to seize the throne by murdering the Duke and pinning the crime on his rivals, the d... Read more
Shadow Magic (1999)
7.2/10
Director: Ann Hu
Starring: Jared Harris, Xia Yu, Liu Pei Qui
Peking, 1902. Travelling English showman Jared Harris teams with photographer Xia Yu to bring the amazing new art form of motion pictures to remote vi... Read more
Shanghai (2010)
6.4/10
Director: Mikael Hafstrom
Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, David Morse, Franka Potente, Gong Li, Hugh Bonneville, John Cusack...
Set in 1941 on the eve of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the story revolves around American spy Paul Soames (John Cusack), who arrives in Japane... Read more
Shanghai Triad (1995)
7.2/10
Director: Zhang Yimou
Starring: Gong Li, Li Baotian, Li Xuejian, Sun Chun
Zhang Yimou's absorbing tale of the Chinese underworld in the 1930s, focusing on a boy who's hired to be the silent servant of a pampered nightclub qu... Read more
Shaolin (2011)
6.9/10
Director: Benny Chan
Starring: Andy Lau, Jackie Chan, Nicholas Tse, Bingbing Fan
In a young Republic of China, where greedy warlords fuel a period of war and strife, Hou Jie (Andy Lau) arrogantly shows no mercy to his enemies seeki... Read more
Shower (1999)
7.5/10
Director: Zhang Yang
Starring: Zhu Xu, Pu Cun Xin, Jiang Wu
This acclaimed drama from Zhang Yang is set in and around a Beijing bathhouse run by its elderly owner and his slow witted son. The proprietor's older... Read more
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2010)
6.1/10
Director: Wayne Wang
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Vivian Wu, Russell Wong, Bingbing Li, Gianna Jun
Based on the best-selling novel by Lisa See, this sweeping drama tells the story of seven-year-old girls Snow Flower and Lily, in 19th Century China,... Read more
Springtime in a Small Town (2002)
7/10
Director: Tian Zhuangzhuang
Starring: Xin Baiqing, Wu Jun, Hu Jingfan
An assured return from Tian Zhuangzhuang ("The Blue Kite") with his first film for ten years. Beautifully capturing the setting of a once-grand mansio... Read more
Temptress Moon (1996)
6.9/10
Director: Chen Kaige
Starring: Leslie Cheung, Gong Li, Kevin Lin, He Saifei
1920's Shanghai is displayed in all it's decadence with opium-addicted Ruyi (Gong Li) forced to officially head the Pang family after the death of the... Read more
The Assassins (2012)
5.6/10
Director: Linshan Zhao
Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Yifei Liu, Hiroshi Tamaki
During the tumultuous era of the Three Kingdoms, aging monarch and warrior Cao Cao (Chow Yun-Fat) edges closer to achieving supreme power as China's n... Read more