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.
Ann Hui’s latest period piece has a slow-burning elegance, but despite the array of world-class talents involved—Christopher Doyle, Ryuichi Sakamoto and the late Emi Wada—and adapted from an Eileen Chang text no less, it feels too thematically shallow to work.
A mid-2000s departure from his wuxia epics, Zhang’s largely restrained work about an aged Japanese father travelling to China to film a traditional mask opera for his estranged dying son ultimately teeters towards the emotionalism of the director’s earlier melodramas.
While the storytelling sometimes struggles to convince, the technical prowess of Lou Ye’s team in capturing the extraordinary performances and putting together one mesmerizing and sensual image after another is deserving of praise.
Clandestine affairs and the desire for sexual connection mark Lou Ye’s naturalistic, if at times, meandering take on the taboos of the conservative Chinese society.
Effortlessly mounted and conceptually strong, Lou Ye’s latest starring Gong Li is a dreamlike, meta-layered tale of espionage as the Allies attempt to one-up the Japanese in WWII Shanghai.
Lou Ye’s breakthrough is a risqué-lite affair, shot in a gritty, disjointed style that pays homage to Hitchcock’s Vertigo.
Like Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America, this is a film about the nostalgic evocation of time, space, style, and tradition.
Eternality Tan 