Dearest [亲爱的] (2014)

Dearest is a social problem movie in the tradition of films like Blind Mountain, in this case looking at child abduction, albeit that Dearest aims for a much more mainstream audience. Opening in Shenzhen in 2009, Wenjun [Huang Bo], the owner of an internet cafe, is divorced from his wife Lu Xiaojuan [Hao Lei]. One day…

Blind Way [盲·道] (2017)

Blind Way is the third in Li Yang's Blind trilogy which looks at the underbelly of Chinese society. Zhao Liang [Li himself in a horrendous wig] is a former singer who now begs on the streets of Beijing pretending to be blind. He lives alone in a modest but decrepit apartment. Liang comes in contact with…

Blind Mountain [盲山] (2007)

Following up on his debut Blind Shaft, director Li Yang exposes another widespread abuse of the law in Blind Mountain. Young graduate Bai Xuemei [Huang Lu]  is enticed to go to work in a remote rural area (filmed in Shaanxi province) but when she gets there she realises that she has been sold to a local family as…

Blind Shaft [盲井] (2003)

Song Jinming [Li Yixiang] and Tang Zhaoyang [Wang Shuangbao] are two miners working in the largely unregulated mines on the border of Hebei and Shanxi provinces.  But rather than relying on the meagre wages, the two have devised a cunning plan to earn money. They 'adopt' a younger miner who they claim is a relative…

Saving Mr Wu [解救吾先生] (2015)

Saving Mr Wu is a fast-moving thriller about a kidnapping. A Beijing-based gang (disguised as policemen) are kidnapping the owner/ driver of expensive cars. They strike out with their last victim (Xiaodou [Cai Lu)] who was driving somebody else's car but hit it lucky when they pick up Mr. Wu . Wu [Andy Lau] is…

Lala’s Gun [滚拉拉的枪] (2008)

Lala [Wang Ji Shuai] is a teenage Miao boy who is approaching 15 years old when, according to tradition, the adult ceremony takes place. His mother is dead and his father 'flew away' in the words of the grandmother who has brought him up. He sets off on a journey to look for his father,…

Life Show [生活秀] (2002)

Life Show is one of the few films based on the work of Chinese novelist Chi Li (although there have been a number of TV series). Chi Li is one of the more interesting Chinese novelist of the last few decades. With fellow (mainly female) authors like Fang Fang, she has created a body of…

Shanghai Dreams [青红] (2005) & 11 Flowers [我11] (2011)

Wang Xiaoshui is one of the more interesting directors to emerge in the early 90s. Unlike, Lou Ye he has tended to focus more on the past than the present. But like Lou, his output is erratic in terms of quality and he has found it difficult consistently to match the promise of his first…

Lost in You [啦啦啦] (2006)

Yu Xiaohuan [Kong Sisi], who has a birthmark on her face, doesn't want to be laughed at any more.  She makes friends with fellow student Zhang Youxi [Sissi] who protects her. Fellow students now pick on them because they suspect they are in a lesbian relationship while teachers warn them that the relationship is 'too…

Spring Fever [春风沉醉的夜晚] (2009)

Although banned from film-making for five years after Summer Palace, Lou Ye made this film 'underground' in Nanjing in 2008. Teacher Lin Xue [Jiang Jiaqi] hires unemployed Luo Haito [Chen Sicheng] to follow and photograph her husband, bookshop owner Wang Ping [Wu Wei], who she suspects is having an affair.  She is right but rather than…