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.
The Battle of Red Cliff (2008)
7.4/10
Director: John Woo
Starring: Chang Chen, Hu Jun, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tony Leung (Chiu Wai), Zhang Fengyi, Zhao...
Aka "The Battle of Red Cliff". An epic historical drama based on a legendary 208 A.D. battle that heralded the end of the Han Dynasty. A power hungry... Read more
The Battle of Red Cliff ( Blu-ray ) (2008)
7.4/10
Director: John Woo
Starring: Chang Chen, Hu Jun, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tony Leung (Chiu Wai), Zhang Fengyi, Zhao...
Aka "The Battle of Red Cliff". An epic historical drama based on a legendary 208 A.D. battle that heralded the end of the Han Dynasty. A power hungry... Read more
The Blue Kite (1993)
7.7/10
Director: Tian Zhuangzhuang
Starring: Lu Liping, Zhang Wenyao, Pu Quanxin
This harrowing tale of a family's struggle to survive in revolutionary China is told from the perspective of a young boy, Tietou, who witnesses first... Read more
The Bombing (Air Strike) (2018)
7.1/10
Director: Xiao Feng
Starring: Adrien Brody, Bruce Willis, Kenny Bee, Wu Gang, Liu Ye, Rumer Willis
During World War II, five different Chinese people fight their way through Japanese Air Force attacks to protect an important military machine in Chon... Read more
The Bombing (Air Strike) (Blu-ray) (2018)
8.1/10
Director: Xiao Feng
Starring: Adrien Brody, Bruce Willis, Kenny Bee, Wu Gang, Liu Ye, Rumer Willis
During World War II, five different Chinese people fight their way through Japanese Air Force attacks to protect an important military machine in Chon... Read more
The Emperor and the Assassin (1999)
7.3/10
Director: Chen Kaige
Starring: Gong Li, Zhang Fengyi, Li Xuejian, Sun Zhou, Lu Xiaohe, Wang Zhiwen
This lavishly produced, epic historical drama is set in the third century B.C. and tells the multi-faceted story of the man who became the first Emper... Read more
The Flowers of War (2011)
7.6/10
Director: Zhang Yimou
Starring: Christian Bale, Ni Ni
In 1937 China, an American mortician (Christian Bale) come to Nanking to deal with a monk's burial finds himself trapped by the Japanese occupation of... Read more
The Founding of a Republic (2009)
4.9/10
Director: Jianxin Huang, Sanping Han
Starring: Andy Lau, Chen Kaige, Donnie Yen, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, John Woo, Stephen Chow, V...
Featuring (in roles large and small) a host of China's biggest films stars, this epic tells the story of post-WWII China and the troubles it faced. Th... Read more
The Great Wall (2016)
6/10
Director: Zhang Yimou
Starring: Andy Lau, Matt Damon, Willem Dafoe, Pedro Pascal, Jing Tian
Set a thousand years ago, during the Song dynasty, Matt Damon portrays a mercenary warrior who is imprisoned within the Great Wall, where he discovers... Read more
The Great Wall ( Blu-ray ) (2016)
6/10
Director: Zhang Yimou
Starring: Andy Lau, Matt Damon, Willem Dafoe, Pedro Pascal, Jing Tian
Set a thousand years ago, during the Song dynasty, Matt Damon portrays a mercenary warrior who is imprisoned within the Great Wall, where he discovers... Read more