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.
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
Unknown Pleasures / Xiao Wu (2002)
Director: Jia Zhang-ke
Starring: Zhao Tao, Zhou Qing Feng, Zhao Wei Wei, Wu Qiong, Wang Hong Wei
Two films from acclaimed director Jia Zhang-Ke take a look at contemporary China, its inequalities, direction and disaffected urban youth. 'Unknown Pl... Read more
A Young Prisoner's Revenge (2002)
Director: Mu Deyuan
Starring: Zhao Youliang, Chen Si Cheng, Xi Mei Juan
A fifteen year old boy is charged with a robbery, in order to reduce his sentence the family offer the judge a bribe, but unbeknowns to them the lawye... Read more
Hero (2002)
7.9/10
Director: Zhang Yimou
Starring: Jet Li, Tony Leung (Chiu Wai), Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi, Donnie Yen
Director Zhang Yimou's highly stylized martial arts epic stars Jet Li as a nameless expert swordsman, who tells the ruler of one of ancient China's wa... 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
Together (2002)
7.4/10
Director: Chen Kaige
Starring: Tang Yun, Liu Peiqi, Chen Hong, Wang Zhiwen, Chen Kaige
Moving drama from director Chen Kaige ("Farewell My Concubine") centers on a 13-year-old violin prodigy whose father takes him from their small provin... Read more
The Missing Gun (2002)
6.8/10
Director: Lu Chuan
Starring: Wen Jiang, Ning Jing
Small-town Chinese policeman Ma Shan (Jiang Wen) wakes up the morning after his cousin's wedding to discover that his gun - a rare, state-issued firea... Read more
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (2002)
7.3/10
Director: Dai Sijie
Starring: Xun Zhou, Chen Kun, Liu Ye
Set in China during the Cultural Revolution of the 1970s, the story follows Luo (Chen Kun) and Ma (Liu Ye), two young men from the city who are sent t... Read more
Beijing Bicycle (2002)
7.3/10
Director: Wang Xiao-Shuai
Starring: Xun Zhou, Cui Lin, Li Bin
Director/co-scripter Wang Xiao-Shuai's Sino-flavoured take on De Sica's "The Bicycle Thief" follows a rural Chinese youth who comes to Beijing and lan... Read more
Millennium Mambo (2001)
7/10
Director: Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Starring: Shu Qi, Jack Kao, Chun-hao Tuan, Yi-Hsuan Chen, Jun Takeuchi, Doze Niu
The first part of a planned series about life in modern Taipei, this intellectually challenging film begins with bar hostess Vicky (Shu Qi) imagining... Read more