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.
1911: Revolution (2011)
5.9/10
Director: Jackie Chan, Zhang Li
Starring: Jackie Chan, Jiang Wu, Joan Chen, Ning Jing, Sun Chun, Winston Chao, Duobuji , J...
Aka "Xinhai Geming". Martial arts legend Jackie Chan reaches his 100th film milestone with this historical drama set in the year 1911, as the Chinese... 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
A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop (2009)
5.7/10
Director: Zhang Yimou
Starring: Sun Honglei, Zhao Benshan, Dahong Ni, Xiao Shen-Yang, Yan Ni
It looks like a perfect plan: the affair will come to a cruel but satisfying end when a Chinese noodle shop owner plots to execute his unfaithful wife... Read more
The King of Masks (1996)
7.6/10
Director: Wu Tianming
Starring: Chu Yuk, Chao Yim Yin
"The King of Masks" tells a tale steeped in ancient tradition, simultaneously challenging the socio-sexual inequity still plaguing China today. On the... Read more
Aftershock (2011)
7.6/10
Director: Feng Xiaogang
Starring: Li Chen, Jingchu Zhang, Xu Fan
This popular disaster drama from China concentrates on a family whose lives were destroyed by the 1976 Tangshan earthquake. When a mother is forced to... Read more
The Wild Goose Lake (2019)
6.9/10
Director: Yi'nan Diao
Starring: Ge Hu
A gangster on the run sacrifices everything for his family and a woman he meets while on the lam. 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
Reign of Assassins (2010)
6.9/10
Director: Chao-Bin Su
Starring: Michelle Yeoh, Kelly Lin, Woo-sung Jung
In Ancient China, "Drizzle" is the most deadly and ruthless assassin of the Dark Stone gang. After a life of theft and murder, she seeks to atone for... Read more
The Sorcerer and the White Snake (2011)
5.9/10
Director: Tony Ching Siu-Tung
Starring: Jet Li, Charlene Choi, Eva Huang, Raymond Lam
White Snake (Eva Huang) in the guise of a beautiful woman falls in love with a young herbalist, Xu Xian (Raymond Lam). At her own risk but with the he... 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