Devils on the Doorstep (2000)
"Guizi lai le" (original title)

During the Japanese occupation of China, two prisoners are dumped in a peasant's home in a small town. The owner is bullied into keeping the prisoners until the next New Year, at which time... See full summary »

Director:

Wen Jiang

Writers:

Wen Jiang (screenplay), Wen Jiang (story),

Stars:

Wen Jiang, Yihong Jiang, Teruyuki Kagawa

6 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview:
Wen Jiang	...	Ma Dasan
Yihong Jiang	...	Yu'er (as Hongbo Jiang)
Teruyuki Kagawa	...	Kosaburo Hanaya
Ding Yuan	...	Dong Hanchen
Zhijun Cong	...	Grandfather
Zi Xi	...	Liu Wang
Haibin Li	...	Me
Kenya Sawada	...	Inokichi Sakatsuka
Weidong Cai	...	Er Bozi
Lianmei Chen	...	Aunt
Yoshimoto Miyaji	...	Koji Nonomura
Qiang Chen	...	'One-Stroke' Liu
David Wu	...	Major Gao

Storyline

During the Japanese occupation of China, two prisoners are dumped in a peasant's home in a small town. The owner is bullied into keeping the prisoners until the next New Year, at which time they will be collected. The village leaders convene to interrogate the prisoners. The townspeople then struggle to accommodate the prisoners. One is a bellicose Japanese nationalist, the other a nervous translator. Will the townspeople manage to keep the prisoners until the New Year?

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Plot Keywords:

prisoner | japanese | peasant | village | small town | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | War

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Details

Country:

China

Language:

Mandarin Japanese English

Release Date:

14 March 2001 (France)

Also Known As:

Devils on the Doorstep

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$3,227 (USA) (20 December 2002)

Gross:

$18,223 (USA) (21 February 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Asian Union Film & Entertainment, Beijing Zhongbo-Times Film Planning, CMC Xiandai Trade Co.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

139 min 162 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

David Wu's character Major Gao in his first entrance to the compound ordered at the Japanese army peddler to move his belongings away in Cantonese, then in Mandarin.

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Goofs

When the jeep brakes to avoid running over the record player, the sound is tires locking up on pavement. However, they are on a dirt road.

User Reviews

a great chinese film for the new century

"guizi lai le" is the most improtant chinese film since 1988 when zhang yi mou's "hong gao liang" won the golden bear in berlin. it's a great film to prove the jiang wen's thinking of the whole anti-japanese war and the real chinese,gave us a new version of chinese.