Devils on the Doorstep 2000  N/R, 140 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Jiang Wen
Cast: Jiang Wen, Jiang Hongbo, Kagawa Teruyuki, Yuan Ding, Cong Zhijun, Xi Zi, Li Haibin, Sawada Kenya, Cai Weidong, Chen Shu
Although this film won the Grand Prix (second place) at Cannes, China held up its release for two years because it is deemed vulgar. The war/comedy is set in Japanese-occupied China during the closing days of World War II. There is a knock at the door of Ma Dasan's (Jiang Wen) house, and two bags are dumped inside. The bags contain a Japanese sergeant and a Chinese translator. Ma is told to interrogate them for six days, which turns into six months, and ends in extreme violence.
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The Emperor's Shadow 1998 N/R, 116 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Zhou Xiaowen
Cast: Ge You, Jiang Wen, Xu Qing, Ge Qigxiang, Di Guoqiang, Wang Ning
Set in 221 BC, this is a beautifully filmed epic about China's first emperor, Ying Zheng (Jiang Wen). While the acting is powerful and the directing is grand, the storyline, at times, gets messy with plot twists and turns. Nevertheless, this film is well-worth viewing.
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Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles 2005 PG, 107 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Zhang Yimou
Cast: Ken Takakura, Shinobu Terajima, Kiichi Nakai, Li Jiamin, Oiu Lin, Jiang Wen, Ken Nakamoto, Bin Li Li, Chen Ziliang, He Zhezhou, Yang Zhenbo
Gou-ichi Takata (Ken Takakura) is an aging Japanese fisherman who has been estranged from his son Ken-ichi (voice of Kiichi Nakai). The son's wife, Rie (Shinobu Terajima), contacts Gou-ichi to report that his son has terminal cancer. Ken-ichi refuses to see him, but Rie does give Gou-ichi a video tape that Ken-ichi has been working on. That tape marks the turning point as Gou-ichi journeys to China to complete the video and, in the process, begins to understand more about the relationship between his son and himself.
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The Soong Sisters 1997  N/R, 140 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama
Director: Mabel Cheung
Cast: Maggie Cheung, Vivian Wu, Wu Hsing-kuo, Winston Chao, Michelle Yeoh, Elaine Jin, Jiang Wen, Niu Zhenhua
The three daughters of China's powerful, political Soong family are the subjects of this film, which was banned in China when it was released. Educated in the U.S., the three sisters returned to China where they married very powerful men: Ai-ling (Michelle Yeoh) married one of the most wealthy men in her country, H.H. Kung (Niu Zhenhua); Ching-ling (Maggie Cheung) married the revolutionary founder of modern China, Sun Yat-sen (Winston Chao); and May-ling (Vivian Wu) married China's leader during World War II, Chiang Kai-shek (Wu Hsing-kuo).
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| 1. Devils on the Doorstep (2000)
2. The Emperor's Shadow (1998)
3. Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (2005)
4. The Soong Sisters (1997)
5. Warriors of Heaven and Earth (2003)
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