Goddess of Mercy [玉观音] (2003)

An unusual early HK-PRC crime drama directed by Ann Hui. The film opens with Yang Rui [Liu Yunlong] who is engaged to his boss but still has an eye for attractive women. He spots cleaner He Yanhong [Zhao Wei] at his Taekwando class and pesters her. When he follows her back to her (much too…

Pretty Big Feet [美丽的大脚] (2002)

Pretty Big Feet was an unlikely wiiner of the Golden Rooster award for best film in 2002. Directed by Yang Yazhou, it tells the story of Zhang Meili [Ni Ping] who runs a local school on the arid Loess Plateau in Ningxia (a favourite site for such films). It's presumably intended to cash in on the…

The Bad Kids [隐秘的角落] (2020)

Unlike Korean and Japanese dramas, Chinese TV series have been slow to generate interest amongst western viewers. The focus on domestic or historical (melo)drama combined with the often lengthy (70+ episode) run time do not seem to have attracted non-Chinese viewers to any great extent. How many Revolutionary heroes or Qing courtiers can you watch?…

My Fair Son [我如花似玉的儿子] (2005)

Director, author and LGBT activist Cui Zien has been involved in many of the films about LGBT issues which have been made in China in the last two decades (either as writer, director and/or producer). Unfortunately My Fair Son [My Son is like a Flower in Chinese] is a terrible movie fully deserving the 4.0…

Lan Yu [蓝宇 藍宇] (2001)

An unusual film by director Stanley Kwan about a gay relationship in Beijing (unusual because such films are rarely ever made in mainland China). Cash-strapped college student Lan Yu [Liu Ye] is set up with wealthy businessman Chen Handong [Hu Jun]. Four months later, they meet again at new year. Gradually a relationship develops and…

Sheep without a Shepherd [误杀] (2019)

Set in Thailand, the film opens with so many different stories that it is unclear where it is going. Within the first 15 minutes we have a horror story about an escape from a prison, a murder investigation and a school trip to a Buddhist shrine. Small business man and movie fan Li Weijie [Xiao…

Disorder [现实是过去的未来] (2009)

A collection of 'found' grainy black and white films of various urban scenes: a traffic accident involving a pedestrian which the driver claims (with some apparent justification) is a scam, a hygiene inspector following up a report of a cockroach in noodles, a raid on an illicit store of anteaters and bear paws, and a…

Crosscurrent [长江图] (2016)

A stunning art house film. Captain Gao Chun [Lou Ye-favourite Qin Hao] is piloting a cargo boat up the Yangtze from Shanghai. Picking up an illicit cargo (of fish) in nearby Jiangyin, the boat heads on up the river - against the current - to deliver the load to Yibin (beyond Chongqing in Sichuan province).…

Four Ways to Die in My Hometown [我故乡的四种死亡方式] (2012)

Four Ways to Die in My Hometown is a strikingly original Chinese art film directed by Chai Chunya (credited here as ChunYa) based on his novel of the same title. Visually and aurally For Ways is fascinatuing, reminiscent in a way of the work of Sergei Parajanov (Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors). Like Parajanov's films, the…

Jinpa [ལག་དམར་] (2018)

Jinpa (apparently called Butcher or Murderer in Tibetan and I Killed a Sheep in Chinese) is another tedious Tibetan tale written and directed by Pema Tseden. After the comparative accessibility of Tharlo, director Tseden returns to more traditional art-house fare. The film opens as Jinpa [Jinpa] drives a battered truck though Kekexili (an isolated region…