Liu Huai-Liang Movies
- 2006
Mongolian Pingpong director Ning Hao weaves this tangled heist tale concerning a priceless piece of jade, and the bumbling thieves willing to do whatever it takes to assume ownership of the gem. The owner of a dilapidated factory has discovered a valuable piece of jade on his property, and now in order to keep a greedy real-estate developer at bay he's looking to find a buyer for the stone. Until that happens, however, the factory owner has determined to put the stone up for display at a run down temple so that potential buyers may admire its beauty. In order to protect the stone, the factory owner assigns hardworking assembly-line worker and former detective Bao (Guo Tao) as his head of security. Now, if Bao can only put his prostate troubles aside long enough to keep three thieves, a skilled burglar hired by the scheming real-estate developer, and the son of the factory owner away from the stone, he may be able to ensure that the factory remains open and he still has a job at the end of the day. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Guo Tao, Liu Huai-Liang, (more)
The Chinese Cultural Revolution of the 1970s -- in which urban intellectuals were relocated either by choice or through force to rural areas in the interest of educating the poor or aiding farm labor -- provides the backdrop for this romantic drama from filmmaker Lu Yue. Ye Xingyu (Shu Qi) is an idealistic young woman who lives in the Yunnan province, where she teaches language classes and is pledged to marry Yuan Dingguo (Fang Bin), who works on a rubber plantation. Xingyu's father is seriously ill, and she wants to move to Kunming to be with him, but getting permission from local and federal authorities proves all but impossible. One day, Xingyu meets Liu Simeng (Liu Hua), who has moved from Beijing to Yunnan to work in an educational program. While Xingyu is initially put off by Simeng's big-city ways, she comes to admire his sincere dedication to duty, and he is clearly infatuated with her. But a scuffle between locals and Simeng's fellow transplants from Beijing leads to a simmering rivalry, which comes to a boil when Dingguo becomes fiercely jealous of Xingyu's blossoming friendship with Simeng. Meiren Cao was written for the screen in part by Shi Xiaoke, whose novel Chulian provided the basis for the story. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liu Ye
- 1985
This is the third in a series of Shaolin Temple films starring China's martial arts champion Jet Li (aka Li Lianjie). Li's good looks, star presence, and stunning gymnastics -- as he twists, turns, and somersaults through a series of well-choreographed battles -- carry this otherwise routine action film. He plays Zhi Ming, trained in the Northern Shaolin Temple after his father was murdered by the evil magistrate He Suo. Zhi Ming plans on attacking the magistrate during a lion dance performed at an annual festival. That attempt at retribution fails but introduces him to Sima, a woman who was trained in the Southern Shaolin Temple after her father was framed by He Suo. (The translation of the title for this film is North-South Shaolin Temple.) In fact, Zhi Ming's father died because he protested the treatment of his friend, Sima's father. It does not take long for Sima and Zhi Ming to discover that they have matching ankle bracelets -- meaning they were betrothed by their parents while still too young to know what that meant. Now they team up to bring down He Suo, engaging their enemies on the Great Wall of China and in the Forbidden City. Jet Li would make another Shaolin film in 1994 and gained recognition in the West when he played Mel Gibson's nemesis in Lethal Weapon 4 (1998). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jet Li, Huang Qui-Yan, (more)
