A group of friends went on a hedonistic trip to Thailand. Accidentally, they rape and kill a sorcerer’s sister. Read More »
Tag Archives: Mandarin
Yeshe Dolma / Song of Tibet (2000) Fei Xie, Danzengzhuoga, Laqiong, Dawangdui, Drama
Stunningly shot on real locations, Song of Tibet is much as its title sounds – a wistful, sometimes clunky melodrama with lots of ethnographic detail Read More »
Jiang Tou / Black Magic (1975) Ho Meng-Hua, Lung Ti, Lieh Lo, Ni Tien, Fantasy, Horror
A magician makes money by charging people to cast love spells on the objects of their affection. Complications arise when he decides that he wants a customer’s bride for himself.
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Dong dong de jiàqi / A Summer at Grandpa’s (1984) Hsiao-Hsien Hou, Chi-Kuang Wang, Shu-Chen Li, Hsiu-Ling Lin, Drama
When a young brother and sister spend a pivotal summer away from home, they are changed. Ting-Ting and Tung-Tung (Wang Qiguang) are children of the city Read More »
Nuan chun / Warm Spring (2003) Wulan Tana, Yang Hao, Qi Ruyi, Chengren Tian, Drama
If you take it purely on face value, Tana Wulan’s Warm Spring is a sweet film of the love and self-sacrifice between an old man, a poor farmer in a country village and a 7 year-old orphan who he takes into his care. Read More »
Jiu shi liu liu de ta / Lovable You (1980) Hsiao-Hsien Hou, Kenny Bee, Anthony Chan, Ping-Yu Chang, Comedy, Drama, Romance
Wenqi Pan (FENG Feifei) is the daughter of a rich businessman. Her father arranges a marriage with Qian Ma (Anthony CHAN, aka CHAN Yau), son of another rich businessman. Read More »
Chin mun bat jeung / Notorious Eight (1981) Chung Sun, Tony Liu, Kuan Tai Chen, Lieh Lo, Action, Crime, Adventure
Old style kung fu films always had brothel, restaurant, and of course gambling scenes. Gambling films became popular in the early 80s, so it made sense to have an intense poker game standoff between early good guy, kung fu star Chen Kuan Tai, and early villain, kung fu star Lo Lieh.
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Robber In Baling / Baling qiezei (1987) Yi Wang, Honglin Dong, Junfeng Li, Action
Former Taiping general Liu Hedong lives in Baling with his daughter, running a small sculpture shop. One day, a wealthy businessman named Yang invites him to his boat, and pleads for him to copy the famous Yueyanglou plaques.
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Tang shan da di zhen / Aftershock (2010) Xiaogang Feng, Daoming Chen, Yi Lu, Fan Xu, Drama
In Tangshan, the truck driver Da Qiang, his wife Yuan Ni and their twins Fang Da, their son, and Fang Deng, their daughter, are a happy simple family. On 27 July 1976, a devastating earthquake destroys Tangshan, and Da Qiang dies while trying to rescue his children from their apartment. Read More »
Kaiwang chuntian de ditie / Spring Subway (2002) Yibai Zhang, Le Geng, Yang Zhang, Lan Ke, Drama, Romance
A stylish urban romance about the silent suffering of a modern Chinese couple.
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Kuai huo lin / The Delightful Forest (1972) Cheh Chang, Hsueh Li Pao, Lung Ti, Mu Chu, Ching Tien, Action, Adventure
Wu Sung, a military swordmaster, is acused of murdering his adulterous sister-in-law and a thug, and sent to exile in Meng Chou. At the prison camp, Shih En, son of the camp commander, intercedes in his favour, to spare him the humiliating 100 bamboo lashes.
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Tu po wu jiang / Break Through the Wu River (1961) Ang Li, Shutian Li, Chunmian Yu, War
By the end of 1934, the Red Army in the vanguard of the first Army and Qin Zhang, head of political commissar, led to lightning speed by Huang Ping, Weng’an, Guizhou Wujiang River to the south bank of the yellow Village, ready to break through Wujiang River.
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Da yue bing / The Big Parade (1986) Kaige Chen, Qiang Guan, Lu Lei, Chun Sun, Drama
Army volunteers train for places in China’s 1984 National Day parade, where they are expected to be a perfect marching unit.
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Shaolin Popey / Shao Lin xiao zi (1994) Yen-Ping Chu, Jimmy Lin, Shao-Wen Hao, Ashton Chen, Action, Comedy
A high school loser dreams of winning the heart of the principal’s daughter, but his chances are slim as long as her bruiser boyfriend’s around. Fortunately, a chance meeting with a pair of Shaolin-trained kids (previously seen in DRAGON FROM SHAOLIN) gives him the fighting skills needed to come out on top. An unusual but entertaining blending of teen romantic comedy and martial arts slapstick.
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Xi meng ren sheng / The Puppetmaster (1993) Hsiao-Hsien Hou, Tian-Lu Li, Giong Lim, Kuei-Chung Cheng, Biography, Drama, War
This Hou Hsiao Hsien masterpiece is a portrait of the childhood and adolescence of octogenarian Taiwanese puppet master and actor Li T’ien-lu, who narrates the film both off-screen and on-screen.
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