Xie Yuan Movies
- 1994
Mixed up relationships are the focus of this Chinese comedy that examines the difficult relationship between a married couple. Many of their troubles stem from their frustrated careers. Li, is a brilliant engineer who cannot find work and so becomes a guard in the forbidden city. His wife Xiao, a classical flautist, is having trouble finding work in a world addicted to pop music. Their frustration is soon expressed as resentment and the couple files for divorce. Unfortunately, they cannot separate as their is a housing shortage in Beijing and they cannot find different apartments. They begin to devise ploys to irritate one another. First Li brings home a rube from the country who does not want to live with her in-laws. Xiao retaliates by being the perfect hostess to the little red-neck. Then she goes out and encourages her former school chum who has a crush on her. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gai Xiaoling, Xie Yuan, (more)
- 1989
In 1949, a small Chinese fishing village populated almost entirely by women awaits the establishment of a government by the newly victorious communist regime. In addition to other worries, the villagers wonder how the government will react to their traditional customs, which decree that wives may only see their husbands three times a year, and the circumstances under which they are permitted to become pregant are very limited. In addition, those who are caught violating these rules are drowned. The almost exclusively female population of the village is explained by the fact that most of the male population died during an ocean storm. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- 1988
Feng Kuang de Dai Jia (or, literally translated, The Price of Frenzy) is Zhou's mediation on the effects of the acceleration of modern life and a woman's search for justice. After being abandoned by their parents, Qingqing is forced to raise and provide for her younger sister Lanlan. They gradually grow accustomed to life on their own and Qingqing comes to be a capable parent. That is, until one night, walking home from school, Lanlan is accosted and raped. The assault renders Lanlan mute and plunges Qingqing into a frenzy of impotent rage. Borrowing a camera, Qingqing begins photographing strangers on the street and bringing the photos home for Lanlan to identify. This strategy fails to yield any result. However, that summer, while working at a bookstore, Lanlan recognizes her attacker among the store's customers and Qingqing and the police begin to pursue him across the city. Fearing arrest, the rapist takes Qingqing hostage and ascends to the roof of a skyscraper. In the climatic struggle that ensues, Qingqing pushes him off the building, and, literally and symbolically, becomes a criminal herself. ~ Brian Whitener, Rovi
- 1988
Set during the twilight of the Cultural Revolution, Chen Kaige's third film, King of the Children, concerns a young man who is sent from the city to the country for his scheduled tour of farm labor. Upon arriving in this remote mountain area, he -- much to his surprise -- is asked to become a teacher even though he lacks all the customary qualifications. Confronted with the apathy of his students, the young man decides to throw out the Maoist textbook, which includes such tedious exercises as copying all the characters out of the dictionary, and teach his students to think about the world around them. Just as he begins to connect with his pupils, the authorities catch wind of his pedagogical departures and severely reprimand him. Shot on-location in the Yuan province, King of the Children features some beautiful landscape photography of the region's forested mountains and precipitous river valleys. ~ Brian Whitener, Rovi
- Starring:
- Xie Yuan, Yang Xuewen, (more)
- 1988
Wang (Xie Yuan) is an uneducated and poor young man who becomes a genius in chess in this cerebral drama. He has been taught by a Taoist mentor with such skill that Wang is able to play nine opponents at the same time. Wang's prowess at chess makes him well known and sets up the ultimate match with the reigning champion know as "the Nail" (Li Hiu). ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- 1984
It is 1939, and the Red Army is deeply engaged in the war against the Japanese, which for the communist Chinese has been going on for many years. Though they are ostensibly allies, the Kuomintang armies under Chiang Kai-shek have done very little to oppose the invaders, so the battle is theirs. In this story, nine men are being held prisoner by the army along the front lines. Three of them are ordinary "honest" thieves, one was caught spying, another poisoning, the third was accused of collaborating with the enemy because he alone survived when his unit was wiped out and the remaining three deserted from their units. During a battle, when almost every one of the regular soldiers is killed, it is up to these prisoners to fight to help the army, or die. Led by the accused collaborator, they acquit themselves with great bravery. This was the first film production of the Guanxi Film Studio in Naning, China, pre-dating the (1983) production Yellow Earth by some time; however official objections to portions of the storyline and consequent re-shooting and re-editing resulted in it not being released until 1987. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lu Xiaoyan
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