An Estranged Paradise [陌生天堂] (2002)

A strking independent film directed by artist and filmmaker Yang Fudong who has directed over 20 films (none of which I have seen). Set in Hangzhou, it is very much a picture of turn of the century China. The film focuses on the daily life of Zhuzi [Zheng Chuzi] and his various girlfriends, including his…

Cities of Love and Sadness: Rediscovering Taiwanese-Dialect Cinema of the 1960s

A very interesting online program from the Harvard Film Archive. The organisers tell us that there were 1200 Taiyu (Taiwanese Hokkien) films made in the period 1955-70. That's an incredible number for a country of 11 million (1960) and far more than the total number of films made in the mainland between 1949 and the…

Ash [灰烬重生] (2017)

Ash (Rebirth from Ashes in Chinese) is the second film directed by Li Xiaofeng (whose next film is Back to the Wharf). It makes an interesting contrast with the later film. Both involve the impact on the main characters of a crime committed 10 or 15 years earlier. Ash opens with the police investigation of…

Being Mortal [来处是归途] (2020)

An engaging if imperfect family drama by director Liu Ze, Being Mortal premiered at the Pingyao International Film Festival in October 2020. It's generally described as being about Alzheimer's disease (a growing issue in an aging Chinese society) but it's more about the impact the disease has on family members. Xia Jiangguo [Yuan Wenqian] has…

Back to the Wharf [风平浪静] (2020)

A very interesting drama by director Li Xiaofeng marred somewhat by a reliance on implausible plot devices but still well worth watching. Song Hao is a studious young man who has been granted direct access to university. However, his school principal calls him in to tell him that this has been passed to another student…

A Hustle Bustle New Year [没有过不去的年] (2021)

A would-be family drama set around the Chinese New Year. Wang Ziliang [Wu Gang] is a writer under considerable work and personal pressure (all largely self-induced) as the New Year approaches. He is struggling to revise a script, negotiating to write a biography of a wealthy businessman and is threatened with legal proceedings because he…

Li Lili in two wartime movies: Orphan Island Paradise [孤島天堂] (1939) & Storm 0n the Border [塞上风云] (1940)

Li Lili is perhaps most famous for her roles in several films of the first Golden Age of Chinese cinema in the 1930s, especially those directed by Sun Yu (see below for a full filmography and links to reviews). Unlike many stars, she did not continue to make films in occupied Shanghai after the Japanese…

Dead Pigs [海上浮城] (2018)

Set in and around Shanghai,. Dead Pigs (Floating City by the Sea in Chinese) is a would-be satire on Chinese society. The film first introduces us to a range of characters living in today's China. There is a pig farmer Lao Wang [Yang Haoyu] who has borrowed money from loan sharks to invest in dubious…