Chinese Films
Running Time: 124 Minutes
Director: Ang Lee
Points of Interest: family, love, generation gap, Chinese food
Plot: Senior Master Chef Chu lives in a large house in Taipei with his three unmarried daughters. Life in the house revolves around the ritual of an elaborate dinner each Sunday, and the love lives of all the family members.
Suggested Assignments:
A. Try to find out the differences and similarities between family life in China and the United States.
B. What strikes you most in the film? Personally, I have never imagined that Chinese food should take so much effort and skill.
Running Time: 92 Minutes
Director: Yang Zhang
Points of Interest: family responsibility, advance of modern world versus traditional and more human ways of life
Plot: Successful businessman Da Ming, goes home to Beijing when he thinks his father has died, but finds him hard at work at the family’s bathhouse. Though he can’t wait to return to his fast-paced modern life, time amongst the crazy cast of characters that frequent the bathhouse gives him a new appreciation for traditional old ways. When a tragic event causes sudden change, Da Ming must choose between the prosperous life he’s made for himself and his responsibility to his family and his heritage.
Suggested Assignments:
A. Do you sometimes find yourself in doubt between what you WANT to do and what you SHOULD do?
B. What would be your choice when you are in Da Ming’s dilemma—choose between a successful career in business, a big-city life, a spouse, and a retarded younger brother?
Running Time: 110 Minutes
Director: Yimou Zhang
Starring: Ziyi Zhang
Points of Interest: rural education, old-fashioned courtship, traditional burial custom, traditional trade of mending bowls
Plot: Yusheng returns to his home village in North China for the funeral of his father, the village teacher. He finds his elderly mother insisting upon following the tradition of carrying the coffin back to their remote village by foot. Since there are few young, able men left in the village, Yusheng worries that there might not enough porters. Unexpectedly, over 100 people show up to help carry home the casket of the man who was their teacher through various generations in the village.
Suggested Assignment:
High-quality teachers are still scarce in rural China. Another film Not One Less tells how a shy girl is ordered to act as a substitute teacher in a remote village. Do you find it similar here that people prefer to work in big cities where life is easier?
Running Time: 95 Minutes
Director: Xinyan Zhang
Starring: Yet Li
Points of Interest: kung fu (martial arts), monk’s life
Attractions: The martial arts action is great and the scenery around the Shaolin Temple is breathtaking. Shaolin Temple is the first Chinese martial arts film to use gongfu artists instead of actors. The actors were taken from the Chinese national wushu team. Many styles and weapons are used, such as drunken staff, mantis boxing, and so on.
The movie was shot on location at the Shaolin Temple, which was such a huge hit in Asia, that it made hundreds of Chinese children go to the temple in hope of learning Shaolin Kung Fu.
Jet Li's first movie, and the greatest kung fu movie ever made.
Suggested Assignment:
Shaolin Temple used to be first known as a religious court and Buddhist school. But monks’ life in this film is not typical at all. What do you know about Buddhism? Would you like to get some idea about traditional religions influential in China? If yes, go to http://www.china-fun.net/Cul/Religion/ to find more.
Chinese Films