Youth labour in textile factories in China’s Zhejiang province is the central focus of Wang Bing’s social realist documentary that shows us what it’s like to be toiling away to make ends meet.
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Youth labour in textile factories in China’s Zhejiang province is the central focus of Wang Bing’s social realist documentary that shows us what it’s like to be toiling away to make ends meet.
The hopes of transcending their abject youth emanate from the trio of well-realised characters in Chen’s assured fourth feature, set and shot in far-flung Northeast China.
Lou Ye’s compelling if controversial tale of politics and sex is built upon the exceptional performance by Hao Lei, who plays a disoriented university student torn between lust and love as the political consciousness of Chinese youths takes root.
Difficult to enjoy and too reliant on its theatrical artifice for three overlong hours, this esoteric and inscrutable drama tackles China’s 20th-century history through the memories of a dead theatre troupe member ready to enter the afterlife.
At nearly 160 mins, Zhang’s latest does overstay its welcome, but as a murky murder mystery with twists and turns, it is finely executed and entertaining.
Enigmatically told with stunning picturesque visuals, Diao’s sophomore film about a frigid woman looking for love in a Chinese industrial town sees him channel the spirit of Antonioni.
An unwanted man and woman brought together in an arranged marriage must support each other as they toil as farmers in rural China in this beautifully-shot drama bogged down somewhat by its simplistic, drawn-out storytelling.
Possibly the finest from Jia in recent years, this unexpectedly affecting documentary remarkably paints a portrait of China in the second half of the 20th century through the diverse oral histories of renowned literary figures.
Eighteen persons with personal connections to the political, social and cultural history of Shanghai share their recollections in Jia Zhangke’s somewhat stolid documentary, where the sum feels lesser than its parts.
Stanley Kwan’s gay drama, set in 1980s Beijing, feels more impressionistic than a deeply-felt journey with its characters, though the performances are compelling enough to overcome its rather lean narrative.