Tsai Chin Movies

Taiwanese society is closely examined in this complex political drama that includes elements of black comedy. The underlying thesis is a call for nouveau riche Asian countries to expand their horizons and reconsider their traditional ways. The relationships within the film are quite convoluted. All the characters are somehow connected by blood, friendship, or sexual chemistry. The story revolves around Molly, a well-born young woman who helms a PR company which is backed by Akeem, her rich boyfriend (to whom Molly's talk show host sister was formerly engaged). Molly's best friend and personal assistant is Qiqi, a former schoolmate from the lower middle class who is to marry Ming, a low-level government employee. Larry, Molly's business manager and friend of Akeem, runs Molly's company. Feng wants to be an actress, and works for Molly while waiting for her big break (she also romances Larry). Birdy is an avante-garde playwright trying to produce his first commercial play. Things heat up when Molly reevaluates her life after firing Feng over a disagreement. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Hoping to stop Chinatown restauranteur Henry Lee (Yu Kun Lu) from exhorting his fellow tradesmen to rise up against the tyranny of gang boss Charlie Wong (Joel de la Fuente), Wong orders his minions to kidnap Henry's son David (Michael Hong). Fraser (Paul Gross) and Ray (David Marciano) make it their mission to return David to his family unharmed. This mission, alas, is seriously compromised by the well-intentioned interference of overzealous FBI agents Ford and Deeter (played respectively by Alex Carter and Mark Melymick, in their first joint series appearance). First telecast on Canadian television, this episode made its US network premiere on November 3, 1994. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

On the verge of signing their divorce papers, Addison (Kate Walsh) and Derek (Patrick Dempsey) have second thoughts--and Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) fumes from the sidelines. Recovering from her miscarriage, Cristina (Sandra Oh) proves the old adage that doctors make the worst patients. Kindhearted George (T.R. Knight) is run ragged by Meredith's delusional mother Ellis (Kate Burton), who imagines that she is still a busy surgeon with tons of patients. Bailey (Chandra Wilson), aka "The Nazi", shows her human side when she is reunited with a young cystic fibrosis victim (Thomas Ian Nicholas). And Alex (Justin Chambers) worries that his medical career may end before it even gets properly under way. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmmaker Arthur Dong's documentary Hollywood Chinese pays homage to the first century of the American film industry, as specifically colored and influenced by the Chinese immigrants to whom Hollywood owes an inestimable debt. Dong touches on everyone from actress Anna May Wong, of Limehouse Blues (1934) and Lady from Chungking (1943), to the late cameraman James Wong Howe, responsible for giving the Rock Hudson thriller Seconds (1966) such a creepy and inventive look. Dong also explores the newer generation of Chinese-American filmmakers, including such giants as Wayne Wang and Ang Lee, responsible for such contemporary classics as The Joy Luck Club, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Brokeback Mountain. At the same time, a haunting and telling undercurrent of racism and stereotypes weaves its way in, suggestive of the difficulties that Chinese men and women found working in Hollywood -- particularly in the early years. As a historical footnote, Dong also makes film history by rediscovering and editing in footage from what is alleged to be the first Asian-American film ever made: the 1916 Curse of Quon Gwan, directed by Marion Wong. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Britain's Merton Park Productions briefly put its Edgar Wallace series on the back burner for the 1965 sci-fier Invasion. Per its title, the film involves a massive invasion of earth by extraterrestrials. Keeping within its tight budget, the film depicts only a handful of the invaders, who are fended off by the staff of a small hospital. Head doctor Edward Judd, who is caring for an imprisoned alien, decides to protect his patient from the invaders, who plan to kill the prisoner before he can betray them. Armed with little more than his wits, Judd saves himself and his charge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This film, based on the novel by Arthur Golden, unfolds from the perspective of Chiyo (Zhang Ziyi), a girl who, at the age of nine, is sold to a geisha house in Kyoto in the early 1930s. Here, she learns that becoming a geisha can be the single path to wealth and independence for a woman. The head geisha of her house, however, Hatsumomo (Gong Li), is bitterly jealous of Chiyo and abuses her at every opportunity. Eventually Chiyo is taken under the wing of Hatsumomo's rival, Mameha (Michelle Yeoh), by far the most famous and successful geisha in their district. Under Mameha's tutelage, Chiyo becomes Sayuri, the most legendary geisha in the nation, skilled in all areas, from conversation to dance, and sought after by seemingly every man alive...except for the one whom she has secretly longed for since she began her training, The Chairman (Ken Watanabe) -- a man who showed her kindness at a time when her view of the world had turned the most bleak. Now as World War II approaches, Japan stands at the brink of a new era and Sayuri must confront the possibility that history will leave all that she has worked for behind. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

The strong anti-China beliefs of actor and political activist Richard Gere were evident in this Hitchcockian thriller that sought to expose the civil and human rights abuses of that country's legal system. Gere stars as Jack Moore, counsel to a large media conglomerate seeking to open trade relations with China, thereby delivering American television shows by satellite to the largest untapped market in the world. After an evening out at a nightclub and fashion show, Jack goes home with a beautiful model (Jessey Meng), then wakes up the next morning to discover her dead body. To his horror, Jack is accused of murdering the girl, who is revealed to have been the daughter of a high-ranking general. Assigned a court-appointed lawyer, Shen Yuelin (Bai Ling), Jack discovers that the repressive Chinese court system does not grant bail, encourages quick guilty pleas and executions, and looks upon him with disfavor for his Western moral turpitude. Finally persuading Shen that he's innocent, Jack and his lawyer embark on an investigation impeded at every turn by Chinese authorities, eventually uncovering a plot to discredit Jack and his company's entry into China. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

The disintegration of a relationship has undertones that find an echo in the possible disintegration of both the economy and the society in this intriguing tale from director Edward Yang. Qin (Cai Qin) has a high-paying job in a computer company, and her fiancé, Lon (Hou Xiaoxian), works in a textile company. Their relationship was never strong, since Lon still harbors some feelings for his ex-girlfriend and tends to dwell in his past glories as a baseball player. After Qin gets a new apartment for them both, everything collapses. She loses her job when the computer company is bought out, her father needs money, her sister needs an abortion, and she suspects that Lon is off seeing his old girlfriend. Lon himself shies away from marriage, gambles away whatever he earns, and worries about one of his friends in need of help. With these demands and strains on their relationship, matrimony hardly seems like a viable option. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The nefarious Fu Manchu strikes again in this crime drama. This time the megalomaniacal Manchu plots to earn the money he needs to build a world-dominating ray gun by abducting the daughters of 12 important world leaders. His dastardly daughter assists. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this musical, the Gilbert and Sullivan classic is updated and set in post-war Japan. This time, the trouble begins when a soldier, the son of a Yankee judge, falls in love with a Japanese girl. This enrages her Yakuza (Japanese mafia) fiance who kidnaps him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this drama, the devilish Chinese villain has concocted a deadly gas. He tries it out in a small English town and is delighted to discover that it is terribly effective. He then travels to the Thames with his daughter. There he has an explosive encounter with the hero who stops the evil plot. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Alan Burgess' novel The Small Woman was the source for the British/American co-production Inn of the Sixth Happiness. Set in the China of the 1930s, the film stars Ingrid Bergman as real-life missionary Gladys Aylward. Against the advice of practically everyone, Gladys heads into the war-ravaged interior to spread the Christian gospel. She finds a powerful ally in the form of an elderly Mandarin (Robert Donat) who, despite his early efforts to rid himself of the troublesome Gladys, eventually converts to Christianity. Gladys' burgeoning romance with Chinese army officer Lin Nan (Curt Jurgens) is interrupted when she is obliged to guide a group of Chinese children to safety over some of the most treacherous of Northern China's mountain regions. Inn of the Sixth Happiness retains its entertainment value some four decades after its production, even allowing for the preponderance of Occidental actors in Oriental roles. The film also served to breathe new life into the old children's nonsense song "This Old Man" (aka "Knick, Knack, Paddywhack"). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Wayne Wang and screenwriter Ronald Bass effectively interweave sixteen mother-daughter tales in their silken film version of Amy Tan's best-selling novel about the clash between generations. The film takes place in present-day San Francisco, concentrating on a group of late-middle-aged Chinese women. Ever since arriving in the United States after World War II, the women have gathered weekly to play mah-jongg and to tell stories, regaling each other with tales of their children and grandchildren, giving each other a sense of hope and renewal in the midst of poverty and hardship. The Joy Luck Club is made up of four women -- Suyuan (Kieu Chinh), Lindo (Tsai Chin), Ying Ying (France Nuyen), and An Mei (Lisa Lu). But when Suyuan dies, the three surviving members invite Suyuan's daughter June (Ming-Na Wen) to take her place. Along with the daughters of the other members -- Waverly (Tamlyn Tomita), Lena (Lauren Tom), and Rose (Rosalind Chao) -- June is a Chinese-American with only a passing interest in her rich cultural heritage. But through vignettes that switch back and forth in time, the daughters begin to appreciate the struggles of their mothers to start their families in the optimistic promise of the United States. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide