The Coffin in the Mountain [心迷宫]

Released:  2014  (commercially in China 2015) Viewed: August 2019 ‘What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive’ could the theme of this film of lust and violence in the mountains. Coffin in the Mountain (the 'The' is rather superfluous) involves a tangled tale by first-time director Xin Yukun. Set in a…

Winter Vacation [寒假]

Released: 2010 Viewed: August 2019 A fascinating if slow-moving ode to the idiocy of small town life by director Li Hongqi. In the tradition of certain Chinese independent films, this movie features a largely static camera and (frequently) largely static characters set in a post-industrial small town in Inner Mongolia. The film is low on…

Rebellious Teenagers [青涩日记]

Released: 2015  Viewed: August 2019 Rebellious Teenagers is an unsuccessful attempt at a teen drama. Set in Zhuhai in Guangdong province, it is based on a novel by Pei Bei, mother of first-time director Xie You (Pei is also responsible for production). Wang Ququ’s [Chen Bin] parents are separated. His mother seems fairly normal but…

Freezing [冬天里]

Released: 2016  Viewed: August 2019 Freezing [perhaps more appropriately In Winter in Chinese] is another take on the problems faced by older people in Chinese society, and a particularly bleak one. Old Liu is in his 70s living in wintery, northeastern Jilin province. Recognising that his farming days are over, he hands over his farm…

My Original Dream [我的青春期]

Released: 2015 Viewed: August 2019 There is, unfortunately, not much positive to say about this would-be comedy. The film starts in 1995 as Zhao Shanshan  is sent away to school. Here he is smitten by the beautiful Li Chunxia [Sun Yi]. Flash forward several years and Shanshan  [now played by 30 something Bao Beier] is…

North by Northeast [东北偏北]

Released: 2015 Viewed: August 2019   Its 1978 (shortly after the end of the Cultural Revolution) in Heilongjiang  province (north east China).  A mysterious ‘hooligan’ [流氓] is attacking local women in their homes and so a small squad of police led by Captain Li Zhanshan [Ban Zan] is based in the local pig breeding centre…