Korean Job Discussion Forums

[stevemcgarrett]

I'm a zealot when it comes to viewing and collecting Chinese films of the past three decades. I suspect there are a few more like me out there in the Korean landscape.

Since we now have the 4th, 5th, and 6th generation of Chinese filmmakers, which generation of directors is your favorite and why?

What's your favorite film and why?

Do you envision mainland China gaining more visibility than British, French or Italian films in the near future?

[Zoobot]

I can't answer your question buy I like Zhang Zimou (I think I spelt that horribly)

You know: they guy who did Hero... Did he do "Fawewell my Concubine" too?

[Dev]

I don't follow any specific Chinese directors.
But I'll recommend Infernal Affairs as a good Hong Kong cop film.

[stevemcgarrett]

Zoobot:

No big deal, it's Zhang YiMou. He's from the 5th generation along with Chen KaiGe, who directed the magnificent Farewell My Concubine. I'm sad to report, by the way, that the main actor of that film recently committed suicide.

Dev:

Good HK cop films are few and far between. I'll have to check it out.

Any other buffs out there?

Unfortunately, most of the recent wushu (kungfu) craze in Chinese film in the West does not represent the best work of these directors

[babtangee]

Infernal Affairs definitely is an exceptionally good Hong Kong cop film.

Zhang Yimou has made a couple of my favourite Chinese Films (Shanghai Triad's climax is awe inspiring), but he has also made a couple that I absolutely despise (Hero, The House of Flying Daggers). No real plot, all tedious spectacle. I suspect he only makes good films when he has good writers on the job. He's got a new one with Chow Yun Fat and Gong Li in it. It looks like it is in the same vein of the latter two. I'll watch it, but I'm pretty sure I'll hate it.

There was a Chinese movie that covered the same story Hero covered. Made a few years before. I think it was called The Emperor and The Assassin. That movie was so good it made Hero redundant.

[rocklee]

[migooknom]

by Chinese movies, do you mean just the ones made in Mainland China? Or does that include HK movies as well?

I really like the wuxia (wire kung-fu) movies that come from the mainland. I guess Hero has been mentioned several times. Crouching Tiger was also good.

Old school (late 80s early 90s) HK films are great.

-any movie with Chow Yun Fat thats directed by John Woo.

-the Once Upon a Time in China series with Jet Li and Tsui Hark.

-movies with the 3 brothers (Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao) are always good fun.

-Ringo Lam's "on fire" series offers some good gritty drama.

*sigh* HK films are just not what they used to be....

BUT

Recently I saw SPL. Freakin awesome fighting scenes (if you're into that sort of thing). Brings back the glory days of HK films...

[rothkowitz]

The good thing about a lot of recent Chinese films has been the spectacle of it all and Zhang Ziyi.That's been about it for me.Haven't bothered to watch "야연" as yet.

I saw a great Chinese film at a film festival some time back.The film was "Lost Love on the Yellow River" or somesuch about an American pilot that crashlands in China(Manchuria?)during WW2.This film was from the 70s.

Farewell My Concubine and Chinese Triad were excellent films that really piqued my interest when I was younger.

Discovery had a documentary about Chen KaiGe on last year.The Promise with Jang DongGun(sp)was popular and epic action/drama/fantasies like this tend to be whats available here.I'm sure there's more interesting stuff being made.

[stevemcgarrett]

Thanks, all posters, for the input and enthusiasm.

Need to correct a couple of things:

rothkowitz: I've got the film you speak of. It stars Ning Jing and her husband plays the pilot for the Flying Tigers. That film was made less than a decade ago, however. Ning Jing's not that old!

Her debut film as a chubby teenager is the glorious In the Heat of the Sun. If you've never seen it, I strongly recommend it. It was filmed in Beijing in the early 1990s but is set just after the collapse of the Cultural Revolution. It's quite philosophical and yet not in an annoyingly self-conscious French cinematic sort of way, if you get my drift. None of the cast were stars and so it's quite realistic.

I've noticed a lot of you go for the action films. I prefer those with solid dialogue and plot development. IMHO the latest offers by Zhang Yimou are strictly to cash in on the new wave of interest in the West in wushu cinema. His best work predates these films. Same holds true for Taiwanese director Ang Lee. If you haven't seen Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, you're really missing out.

To clarify:

Most Chinese I've known over the past decade dislike Zhang Ziyi both as an actress and person. I have a friend who made acquaintance and found her undeservedly aloof. She started in ballet, then caught Zhang's eye. I still think her best film is her first, The Road Home, based on a true story. She is stunning and natural in it. It was before she became a star, so she's unassuming as well.

The confusing thing about many Chinese films is that they change the titles before they're made available with English subtitles in the West. Hence The Road Home in Chinese is My Father and My Mother.

Most Chinese respect Gong Li's acting if not how she got her start as Zhang's mistress (they eventually married and divorced). Many Chinese guys find her attractive, unlike Zhang Ziyi, by the way. A close friend of mine has a friend who was her English tutor before she made the film Memories of a Geisha. She (the tutor) found Gong Li earthy but a little tight-fisted and very self-conscious about her poor English. Li wants to break into Hollywood in a big way now that her Chinese filmmaking has mostly run its course. I met her once; she has the most amazing eyes and aura about her.

But I do ramble on...

[tzechuk]

[rothkowitz]

Wikipedia says " Love Story by the Yellow River" was made in 1999!!

I saw it in 2000.

It must have been the film stock or the harsh looking and sounding copy or something...

[Zoobot]

I really want to see "Raise the Red Lantern"

I kind of liked the sumptuous visual detail in Hero. The story was a little subordinate, but because it was so beautiful, I was willing to overlook this flaw.

[stevemcgarrett]

Zoobot:

Raise the Red Lantern, based on the famed novel of the same title, was Gong Li's acting debut. It was set in Shanxi Province, known for its rich merchants' homes with grand courtyards.

What's your favorite film to date?

By the way, I can watch anything with Shu Qi but not because of her acting talent.

[jaderedux]

Life
Red Firecracker Green Firecracker

Probably one of the two best I have ever seen.

Jade

[babtangee]