The third largest movie industry in
the world is
based in Hong Kong, so there are
thousands of movies which could be listed. It should be noted that, in
contrast to the
Chinese "art movies" often shown in rep movie houses, the Hong Kong
movies excel
in extremely bloody and choreographed violence. Here, though, is a very
small selection of
easily accessible films, many made in the West.
Choice
For A Chinese Woman :
Enlightenment In A Buddhist Convent, a production of
ZDF in
cooperation with Zhongshan TV Art Center. (Princeton, N.J. : Films for
the Humanities & Sciences, 1993) 1 videocassette (VHS) (35
min.)
Double
Happiness,
Director:, Released 1995 [In English]
Looks at the life of
a Canadian woman and the complexities of her life in living up to her
goals as an independent woman and the expectations of her Chinese
family.
Eat
Drink, Man Woman,
Director: Ang Lee, written by Mr. Lee, Hui-Ling Wang and James Schamus,
Released 1994 [In Chinese, with English subtitles]
This
is about a father who has lost his joie de vivre. No happier than Mr.
Chu (Sihung Lung) are the three beautiful daughters whose romantic
lives are star-crossed and who can't seem to escape their father's
spell. Mr. Chu, a widower, is considered a great man in some circles,
but at home it's another matter. Sunday dinner for father and daughters
is a terrible ordeal. Family tensions run so high the participants can
barely even eat. It's possible that Mr. Lee, a warmly engaging
storyteller under any circumstances, could have made the father a
celebrated singer or dog-trainer with equal ease. As it happens, he
presents Mr. Chu as the greatest chef in Taipei, which not only makes
the Sunday dinner sequence a spectacular affair but also turns "Eat
Drink Man Woman" into an almost edible treat.
[from
review by Janet Maslin, New York Times, August 3, 1994] NYT
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Farewell
My Concubine,
Director: Chen
Kaige; screenplay (in Mandarin, with English subtitles) by Lilian Lee
and Lu Wei, based on the novel by Miss Lee; 154 minutes, Released 1993
This Chinese epic proved troublesome
to the Communist
authorities at home, and is one of those very rare film spectacles that
deliver just about everything the ads are likely to promise: action,
history, exotic color, multitudes in confrontation, broad overviews of
social and political landscapes, all intimately rooted in a love story
of vicious intensity, the kind that plays best when it goes badly,
which is most of the time.
The time covered is
1925 through 1977. The setting is Beijing, earlier called Peking and,
when not the national capital, Peiping. The film's title is taken from
a favorite work in Chinese opera repertory, a tragic tale out of an
ancient past that has become myth. It's about a concubine who's so
loyal and true that rather than abandon her king as he faces military
defeat, she chooses to dance for him one last time and then to cut her
throat with his sword.
[from
a review by Vincent Canby, New York Times, 1993] NYT
Inn
of the Sixth Happiness,
Director: Mark Robson, Starring:
Ingrid Bergman, Curt Jurgens, Robert Donat. Released: 1958 [In English]
Engrossing drama set in China just
prior to World
War II. Bergman does a fine acting job as an English girl who becomes a
brave missionary. She shepherds children through enemy lines and
carries on a romance with Jurgens. Donat, in his last film, is notable
in the role of a mandarin. An exciting happy ending wraps it up nicely.
l58 minutes [AOL]
Genghis
Khan,
Director: Henry Levin, Starring: Omar Sharif, Stephen Boyd, Francoise
Dorleac, Released: 1964 [In English]
A passable
historical epic with some good action scenes, but hung up by a script
loaded with nonsense. The plot follows the Chinese warriors' rise to
power and his campaign of revenge against his old enemy Jamuga, who
murdered Genghis Khan's father. Moments of decent acting stand out
among the routine.126 minutes [AOL]
The
Good Earth,
Director: Sidney Franklin ; screenplay by Talbot
Jennings, Starring Tess Slesinger, Claudine West. Released 1937.
Based on nobel-prize winning author Pearl Buck's most successful novel,
this film is the classic account of the world of a Chinese peasant.
The
Joy Luck Club,
Director: Wayne Wang,
Starring Kieu Chinh, Tsai Chin, France Nuyen and Lisa Lu. Wayne Wang,
Released 1994. 139 mins. Video: Hollywood Pictures Home Video ;
[Burbank, Calif.] : Buena Vista Home Video [distributor], 1994].
Based on Amy Tan's popular novel,
this complex, epic
tearjerker tells of the often difficult relationships of four immigrant
Chinese women and their yuppie daughters. Unfortunately, the awkward
film evolves as a maze of disconnected vignettes and flashbacks,
especially when it involves the hardships of the older women in their
native China. The actresses, however, turn in nifty performances while
the male parts are primarily cardboard caricatures. 135 mins. [AOL]
The
Last Emperor,
Director: Bernardo
Bertulucci, Starring John Lone. Released 1988, 164 mins. [in Mandarin
and English] Video: Beverly Hills, Calif. : Nelson Entertainment :
Beautifully filmed epic of China's
last imperial ruler, Pu Yi
- from his appointment to the throne at age three to his death as an
ordinary citizen in the People's Republic in 1967. Film maker Bernardo
Bertolucci tells an intimate, sweeping story of a man controlled by
historical forces. The picture is visually exciting, generally
engrossing and fascinating as a portrait of modern China made by
westerners. 166 mins. [AOL]
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of page
Left
Hand of
God,
Director: Edward Dmytryk, Starring: Humphrey Bogart,
Gene Tierney, Lee J. Cobb Released: 1955 [In English]
Bogart
stars as an American pilot posing as a Catholic priest in China just
after World War II. He gets involved with a renegade warlord, played by
Cobb, who is immersed in conflict. The drama plods along, but it's
watchable because of the top cast, which is much better than the
material. 87 minutes [AOL]
Little
Buddha,
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci, Starring Keanu Reeves, Released, 1993
[in English]
From renown director Bernardo
Bertolucci ("The Last Emperor"), a visually lavish but ultimately drab
and absurd excursion into Eastern religion and the life of Buddha. The
amateurish plot involves a nine-year-old Seattle boy (Alex
Wisendanger) who is identified by Tibetan monks as a possible
reincarnated high priest. This situation finds the youth and his father
(Chris Isaak) on a trip to Katmandu. The listless drama is laced with
flashbacks to 500 B.C. when the actual Buddha (Keanu Reeves) apparently
lived. Shallow characterizations and listless acting add up to a long
meditation rather than a moving story. 123 mins. [AOL]
M.
Butterfly,
Director: David Cronenberg, Starring Jeremy Irons
and John Lone, Released 19 [In English]
Based on
David Hwang's Broadway play, this chilly drama, set in Beijing, China,
in 1964, presents an incredible premise: a French diplomat engages in a
long-term sexual affair with a Chinese opera singer who he believes is
a woman but actually is a man and a spy. The story apparently is true,
but the film fails to clarify such a far-fetched deception.
Nevertheless, Jeremy Irons, as the attache, and John Lone, as the
crafty female impersonator, gamely try to breathe life into their
characters, but it's an impossible task. 100 mins. [AOL]
Temptation
of a Monk, Director
Clara Law, Starring Wu Hsin-ku, Released
1994, 118mins.
A historical epic set in 7th CE China. The
hero is one General Shi who hides himself as a Buddhist monk after
getting involved in a failed plot to murder a prince. The movie
addresses both 7th century politics and the religious quest. Although
it is spectacular, without an immense background in the period, the
viewer can easily become bored. [In Mandarin with English Subtitles.
Video released by Fox Lorber].
The
Wedding Banquet, Director Ang Lee; Released 1993 [In
Mandarin and English]
A comedy of manners in which a gay
Taiwanese businessman in Manhattan and his American lover go through a
series of pretended marriage situations in order to impress the
businessman's visiting Taiwanese parents. It is very funny.
