Hsu Feng Movies

Until Farewell, My Concubine (Ba Wang Bie Ji), not many people were aware that most members of the Peking Opera were originally orphans or illegitimate castaways with nowhere else to turn. Such is the case of the film's protagonists, Duan Xiaolou (Zhang Fengyi) and Cheng Dieyi (Leslie Cheung), two homeless outcasts, trained from childhood in the grueling rigors of the Opera by master Lu Qui. The film traces the 52-year friendship between Xiaolou and Dieyi, a friendship pockmarked with fiery conflicts and tender reconciliations. Though the delicate Dieyi specializes in female roles and the gutsy Xiaolou plays noble warriors, theirs is an essentially heterosexual relationship; still, when Xiaolou takes upon himself a prostitute bride (the magnificent Gong Li), Dieyi is as petty and jealous as an outcast mistress. Farewell, My Concubine holds the viewer in thrall from start to finish; as such, it is thoroughly deserving of its many international film awards and nominations. Surprisingly, this worldwide success was something of a flop in its home country of China; perhaps it hit too close to home for those viewers who'd lived through the same years so painstakingly recreated in the film. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Twenty years ago, when she was a university student, To Choi Mei (Lin Ching Hsia) had an affair with one of her professors. The professor's pregnant wife convinced them to break the relationship off. Now she is a social worker, and while her old classmates flee the impending reunification with China by moving to Europe and the U.S., she is just taking on a teenaged boy (David Wu) as a new case. Losing sight of her professionalism entirely, she quickly becomes embroiled in a passionate relationship with the boy, whom she discovers to be the child of her old flame. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

The efforts of the brave workers and soldiers of Mao Tse Tung's new China to first liberate, and then properly manage an oilfield and oil-drilling operation are the focus of this fast-moving and upbeat propaganda drama. One of the dramas involves an honest worker who, despite hindrances posed by a "rear-guard" manager, brings in a gusher in the nick of time. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In China, religious positions have always been controlled very closely. In this lavishly photographed story, set in a Buddhist monastery during the Ming Dynasty (14th-17th centuries), the monastery is in turmoil, wondering who the government is going to appoint as its next abbot. A number of outside dignitaries have been invited for the announcement and enthronement of the next abbot, and the tensions in the monastery are only heightened when one of these guests steals a venerated sutra from the Mahayana canon of Buddhist scriptures. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Set in a land before time, this martial-arts story chronicles the courage of a brave warrior who is equally adept at fighting real and mythical foes. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The Great Hunter was bankrolled by an American production company and produced in its entirety in Taiwan. Wang Yu plays a military captain who forms a bond with orphaned Chia Ling. Together they comb the Taiwanese countryside in search of the person or persons who murdered Chia's father. Don't look for subtlety and nuance here: this is a violent revenge tale, pure and simple. For what it is, however, The Great Hunter is well put together. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Pirates from Japan and China itself are disturbing the equanimity of 13th-century China, and the Emperor dispatches a trustworthy officer and a small band of men to deal with them. Plenty of action follows, as even the officer's wife knows kung fu (and uses it), and the pirates receive their just deserts from the Emperor's men. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

An influential martial arts film and an acknowledged influence on Ang Lee's amazing Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, King Hu's A Touch of Zen opens with young scholar Ku Shen-chai working at his portraiture stand in a small frontier town. He lives with his nagging mother in a supposedly haunted, rundown house at the edge of the abandoned Ching Liu estate. One day, a stranger named Ou-Yang Yin asks for his picture to be painted, and then suddenly leaves. Soon, another stranger -- this time a beautiful woman named Yang Hui-Ching -- suddenly moves into the complex next door. The presence of these strangers has an increasingly unnerving effect on Ku, and he rightfully comes to believe that the entire town is involved in some bizarre political intrigue. After a night of passion between Ku and Yang, Ou-Yang Yin stages a surprise attack on the compound, which Yang surprisingly thwarts with dazzling aplomb. Yang reveals to him that her father was an honorable general executed due to the nefarious doings of the powerful Eunuch Wei. With the aid of General Shih and Lu (who pose as the town's blind beggar and herb vendor respectively), Yang was spirited away first to a monastery where she learned martial arts and then to Ku's remote corner of China. Ou-Yang Yin, Eunuch Wei's henchman, has in turn vowed to pursue her to the ends of the earth. As Ou-Yang Yin rallies Wei's army to the walled estate, Ku -- having spent a lifetime researching military history -- devises a brilliant strategy to crush the siege and win the heart of this most unusual woman. Though his plan works, he fails to win the loyalty of Yang; she flees into the night as Ku slept. After searching desperately, Ku finds her in the same monastery where she learned kung-fu. Now a Buddhist nun, she hands over their child to him and sends him packing. Realizing that Ku is in danger, Yang and her mentor -- a saintly abbot -- then set out to protect him. Suddenly out of nowhere, Hsu Hsien-Chen -- the profoundly evil army commander of Eunuch Wei -- confronts the abbot and an all-out battle between good and evil ensues. Screened at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival and winning a technical prize, this was the first Chinese language film ever to win a major western film festival award. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi