Wang Wei Movies

Loosely inspired by author Ye Mi's novel Velvet, Chinese New Wave director Jiang Wen's follow-up to Devils on the Doorstep drifts between Yunnan's Shangri-la and the Gobi Desert to follow four narratives exploring the roles that culture and revolution have played in Chinese history. In the first tale, a deranged young widow (Zhou Yun) slips on a pair of colorful shoes that have been embroidered to resemble fish, and abandons her only son (Jaycee Chan) to disappear into a nearby river. Set on a university campus during the Cultural Revolution, the second episode details the tragic relationship between professors Liang (Anthony Wong), Tang (Jiang Wen), and attractive doctor Lin (Joan Chen) that eventually leads the village where the mad widow resides. After exploring the magical texture of velvet in the third tale, Wen connects each of the stories by traveling back in time to the Gobi Desert. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Directed by Lou Ye, Zi Hudie revolves around the underground faction of anti-Nipponese fighters in 1930s Shanghai, just prior to the onset of the Sino-Japanese war. It's only the beginning when Cynthia (Zhang Ziyi), a young Chinese woman, learns the news of her lover Itami's (Toru Nakamura) rapidly approaching return to the military. In a second and even more devastating blow, Cynthia's brother, a contributor to an anti-Japanese newspaper, is killed by a Japanese activist. Three years later, switchboard operator Tang Yiling (Li Bingbing) and Situ (Liu Ye), her fiancé, are introduced to Cynthia after inadvertently heading into a protest held by a resistance group code-named Purple Butterfly, of which Cynthia (who has since changed her name to Ding Hui) has become a part. Ultimately, a botched assassination attempt leaves Situ with a mysterious briefcase; now a suspect himself, Situ is arrested by none other than Itami, who, after reuniting with his old flame, has no idea of her role in a complicit plan to have his boss (Kin Ei) assassinated. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

A man stretching the truth for his own sake soon begins doing the same for someone else, with increasingly complicated results, in this gentle comedy from China. Zhao (Zhao Benshan) is a guy in his early fifties who's out of work but still wants to marry his girlfriend (Dong Lifan). However, his often cranky sweetheart thinks he runs a hotel, and Zhao is trying to keep the illusion alive with the help of his pal Li (Li Xuejian) by turning an abandoned bus into a "love hotel" for couples who lack privacy in their homes. But business isn't all that good, since the old-fashioned Zhao asks unmarried couples to keep their doors open to ensure nothing untoward happens. As Zhao tries to convince his girlfriend to walk down the aisle with him -- and struggles to raise the money she demands first -- she introduces him to Wu Jing (Dong Jie), the blind teenage stepdaughter she inherited from her marriage to her now-deceased first husband. The woman insists that Zhao give Wu Jing a job in his hotel; since the bus/hotel has been towed away, this isn't a practical possibility. Zhao and Li put Wu Jing through a fake job interview to keep up appearances, and when she breaks down in tears talking about her deadbeat father, he decides he has to do something for her. Zhao moves Wu Jing into his home, and with the help of his friends, sets up a phony massage therapy center where Wu Jing works with the "clients" -- actually Zhao's friends, most of whom are also unemployed. But the bigger and more complex the illusion becomes, the harder it is to maintain, though Zhao feels compelled to do so for the sake of the girl's feelings. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide