Films to watch for further study in 241.204: Chinese Film
by berends_anne | created - 13 Mar 2016 | updated - 02 May 2016 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Ju Dou (1990)
PG-13 | 95 min | Drama, Romance
In rural China, the young bride of a tyrannical owner of a silk-dyeing business finds temporary solace in the arms of her husband's nephew, but problems arise when she becomes pregnant.
Directors: Yimou Zhang, Fengliang Yang | Stars: Gong Li, Wei Li, Baotian Li, Zhang Yi
Votes: 9,021 | Gross: $1.99M
Directed by Zhang Yimou and made with Japanese funding, Ju Dou was banned in China during it's release but is nominated in the US for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film. The Chinese government protested the nomination and Zhang Yimou is not allowed to attend the award ceremony.
2. Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
PG | 125 min | Drama, Romance
China in the 1920s. After her father's death, Songlian is forced to marry the wealthy Master Chen. With three wives already, each living in a separate house, there is fierce competition for his attention and the privileges that are gained.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Gong Li, Jingwu Ma, Saifei He, Cuifen Cao
Votes: 35,359 | Gross: $2.60M
Also directed by Zhang Yimou and made with foreign funding - this time from Taiwan. The film is banned in China, but gets nominated (as a Hong Kong entry) for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film.
3. Farewell My Concubine (1993)
R | 171 min | Drama, Music, Romance
Two boys meet at an opera training school in Peking in 1924. Their resulting friendship will span nearly 70 years and endure some of the most troublesome times in China's history.
Director: Kaige Chen | Stars: Leslie Cheung, Fengyi Zhang, Gong Li, You Ge
Votes: 33,174 | Gross: $5.22M
4. The Story of Qiu Ju (1992)
PG | 100 min | Comedy, Drama
A peasant woman seeks justice after the headman of her village has kicked her husband in the groin.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Gong Li, Peiqi Liu, Liuchun Yang, Kesheng Lei
Votes: 6,663 | Gross: $1.89M
5. Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)
R | 114 min | Action, Drama, Romance
During China's Tang dynasty the emperor has taken the princess of a neighboring province as wife. She has borne him two sons and raised his eldest. Now his control over his dominion is complete, including the royal family itself.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Chow Yun-Fat, Gong Li, Jay Chou, Ye Liu
Votes: 45,971 | Gross: $6.57M
6. Under the Hawthorn Tree (2010)
114 min | Drama, Romance
Romance sparks between a young woman and a young man from different economic backgrounds during China's Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and '70s.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Xuejian Li, Taishen Cheng, Dongyu Zhou, Rina Sa
Votes: 3,731
7. The Road Home (1999)
G | 89 min | Drama, Romance
Prompted by the death of his father and the grief of his mother, a man recalls the story of how they met in flashback.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Ziyi Zhang, Honglei Sun, Hao Zheng, Yulian Zhao
Votes: 13,920 | Gross: $1.28M
8. Shanghai Triad (1995)
R | 108 min | Crime, Drama, History
A provincial boy related to a Shanghai crime family is recruited by his uncle into cosmopolitan Shanghai in the 1930s to be a servant to a ganglord's mistress.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Gong Li, Baotian Li, Xiaoxiao Wang, Xuejian Li
Votes: 6,026 | Gross: $2.30M
9. Springtime in a Small Town (2002)
PG | 116 min | Drama, Romance
The eight-year marriage of Liyan and Yuwen has left them both unfulfilled and distant. A visitor arrives from Shanghai, a doctor who's an old school friend of Liyan's and, unbeknownst to her husband, Yuwen's childhood sweetheart.
Director: Zhuangzhuang Tian | Stars: Jingfan Hu, Jun Wu, Bai Qing Xin, Xiaokeng Ye
Votes: 1,366 | Gross: $0.04M
10. The Emperor and the Assassin (1998)
R | 162 min | Drama, History, Romance
In pre-unified China, the King of Qin sends his concubine to a rival kingdom to produce an assassin for a political plot, but as the king's cruelty mounts she finds her loyalty faltering.
Director: Kaige Chen | Stars: Gong Li, Fengyi Zhang, Zhou Sun, Xiaohe Lü
Votes: 6,471 | Gross: $1.33M
11. He ni zai yi qi (2002)
PG | 116 min | Drama, Music
A violin prodigy and his father travel to Beijing, where the father seeks the means to his son's success while the son struggles to accept the path laid before him.
Director: Kaige Chen | Stars: Yun Tang, Peiqi Liu, Hong Chen, Zhiwen Wang
Votes: 4,477 | Gross: $0.60M
12. The Promise (2005)
PG-13 | 121 min | Action, Drama, Fantasy
Empowered by the love of a slave (Jang), a royal concubine (Cheung) is given the chance to make an extraordinary decision.
Director: Kaige Chen | Stars: Cecilia Cheung, Jang Dong-Gun, Hiroyuki Sanada, Nicholas Tse
Votes: 9,491 | Gross: $8.19M
13. Sacrifice (2010)
R | 122 min | Action, Drama, History
To save the only child of the Zhao Family, whose entire clan was massacred at the hands of a nefarious minister, a doctor sacrifices his own son; after the Zhao child grows up, the doctor becomes intent on seeking his vengeance.
Director: Kaige Chen | Stars: You Ge, Xueqi Wang, Xiaoming Huang, Bingbing Fan
Votes: 2,491
14. Pao Da Shuang Deng (1994)
R | 111 min | Drama, Romance
In 1920s China, the wealthy heiress of a fireworks business falls in love with an impoverished painter, but her late father's will prohibits their union.
Director: Ping He | Stars: Jing Ning, Gang Wu, Xiaorui Zhao, Yang Gao
Votes: 509 | Gross: $0.27M
15. Red River Valley (1997)
115 min | Drama, History, Romance
At the turn of the century, a young Chinese girl escapes from a religious sacrifice, and is rescued by an honorable Tibetan herdsman. The two fall in love, but problems arise when she is ... See full summary »
Director: Xiaoning Feng | Stars: Jing Ning, Bing Shao, Zhen Ying, Paul Kersey
Votes: 379
16. Lover's Grief Over the Yellow River (1999)
105 min | Drama, War
The film tells the story of a grounded American pilot during the Second World War who learns about the noble spirit of the Chinese poeple when he is rescued by the communist-led Chinese ... See full summary »
Director: Xiaoning Feng | Stars: Jing Ning, Paul Kersey, Xinjun Wang, Tumen
Votes: 325
17. The Bride with White Hair (1993)
92 min | Action, Fantasy, Romance
Cho Yat-Hang, the unwilling successor to the Wu-Tang clan throne and the unsure commander of the clan's forces in a war against an evil cult, falls in forbidden love with Lien Ni-Chang, a killer for the evil cult.
Director: Ronny Yu | Stars: Brigitte Lin, Leslie Cheung, Francis Ng, Elaine Lui
Votes: 3,842
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