Gao Yuanyuan Movies
Cheng Er directs Beijing Bicyce star Gao Yuanyuan in this quietly intense tale of a young girl who discovers that she is dying from a brain tumor, and vows to solve a lingering family mystery before she succumbs. Upon discovering that the brother-in-law she always trusted could be the man who murdered her parents, the desperate girl kidnaps and tortures him in hopes of eliciting a confession. Will she discover the truth before it's too late, or will the answer to her greatest question elude her even in death? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gao Yuanyuan, Xu Zheng, (more)
Chinese director Wang Xiaoshuai crafts his pensive study of life in modern China concerning a couple who are confronted with love, responsibility, morality, and loyalty after their relationship fails and their young daughter falls ill. Years ago, Mei Zhu and Xiao Lu were a happily married couple with a beautiful daughter named Hehe. But the marriage ultimately failed, and the pair ultimately parted ways. Years later, Mei Zhu and Xiao Lu have both remarried, and Hehe is the only link that still bonds them together. When Hehe is diagnosed with leukemia, the doctors relay that the only hope for the ailing girl is a bone marrow transplant from a healthy sibling. Realizing that Hehe has no siblings, her desperate mother and father are suddenly faced with a life altering decision. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liu Weiwei, Yu Nan, (more)
The Jackie Chan-headlined action farce Rob-B-Hood concerns Slipper (Chan), a character caught up in a hornet's nest of problems. Raised by poor parents and expelled from school at an early age, Slipper became notorious for his lightning-fast footwork and quick-fingered hijinks, but managed to tally up a massive amount of gambling debt. With no other choice, he accepted his crooked landlord's bid to participate in a series of crazy heists. They paired up with another shady character, Octopus (Louis Koo), and successfully kidnapped BB, a tycoon's grandson, but unforeseen complications led the trio to keep the baby longer than they had originally intended. Now, when the men learn that a triad intends to collect on some unpaid ransom and kill the child in the process, they decide to keep the baby indefinitely, as an unofficial "adopted son," and train him in the ways of burglary. They receive assistance, in this endeavor, from a teenage hanger-on, Pak Yin (Charlene Choi); a nurse named Melody (Gao Yuanyuan); and the landlord's missus, (Teresa Carpio). Suddenly, however, the rollers and the triads begin to close in, and the men must figure out a way to return the baby to his folks. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis Koo, Michael Hui, (more)
A young girl living with her family in rural China finds both her father and the rapidly changing times weighing heavily on her dreams in this drama from filmmaker Wang Xiaoshuai. At the dawn of the 1980s, modern sensibilities had reached to the furthest corners of the globe, but previous political obligation had forced some loyal Chinese families to move to remote border provinces in hopes of establishing a stronger line of defense against possible invasion. Qinghong's family was one such family, though her father's growing regret of having uprooted his life for an invasion that never came has been weighing heavily on his conscience. As dreams of returning to Shanghai haunt his sleep, Qinghong's father vows not to let his daughter establish roots in the remote region in hopes that when the time comes, his clan can return to the modern world from which they came so long ago. In his quest to ensure that Qinghong is ready when that time comes, he isolates his daughter by crushing her dreams with poisonous rhetoric and attempting to ensure that her crush on a local boy doesn't have the opportunity to develop into something deeper. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gao Yuanyuan, Li Bin, (more)
A visually stylized and offbeat tale of urban romance from music video director Zhang Yibai, Spring Subway is the first release from the Beijing-based, independent production company Electric Orange Entertainment. Their seven-year-old marriage collapsing from simple ennui, twentysomething city dwellers Jian Bin (Geng Le) and Xiaohui (Xu Jinglei) cling to familiarity in hopes of maintaining their comfortably numb existence. While designer Xiaohui embarks on a extramarital affair with one of her co-workers, Jian Bin doesn't tell Xiaohui about getting fired from his job and maintains the facade of going to work by spending his day on the Beijing subway. Eavesdropping on young couples in love while daydreaming on the subway, Jian Bin himself is tempted with infidelity when he comes to the aid of an injured schoolteacher and provides anonymous care from afar during her convalescence in a local hospital. If Xiaohui and Jian Bin can only bring themselves to be as honest with one another as they are with their outside relationships, there may yet be hope for their marriage. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Xu Jinglei, Geng Le, (more)
A young man from rural China struggles to make good in Beijing in this drama, which suggests an updated and relocated variation on the neorealist classic Ladri di Biciclette. Guei (Cui Lin) is a teenager who arrives in the big city looking for work; he and a handful of other youngsters are hired as bicycle messengers, with their employer giving them new mountain bikes under the condition that they're paid ten yuan for each message they deliver, and the bicycles are theirs once they've made 58 trips. Guei discovers the job is not an easy one, as he deals with the complexity of the huge city, confusion over who gets what message, and the condescending attitude Beijing residents often display toward the new arrivals. Guei is determined to make good and is close to owning his bike when it's stolen; Guei's boss tells him the only way he can keep is job is if he can find the bicycle, which, in a city the size of Beijing, is no easy task. Against all odds, Guei finds the bicycle, but it's now in the hands of Jian (Li Bin), who claims he got it at a second-hand shop and isn't about to give it up. Guei steals the bike back from Jian, but now has to deal with the teenaged tough and his roughneck friends. Shiqisuide Danche was produced as part of a series of films from young Chinese directors called "Tales of Three Cities," co-produced by French and Taiwanese companies. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Zhang Yang directed this $200,000 Chinese anthology film, opening on a yin-yang-decorated soup-pot shared by a Beijing couple. A soupcon of scenes with this couple serves to link several stories on the theme of love and marriage: a kid creates problems with parents and teachers by faking a recording; an elderly widow has her choice of men after she appears on a television dating show; a bored couple share a childish fascination for amusing toys; a boy discovers his parents have just divorced; and a romance is described via voiceovers. Cameo by Tiawanese singer-composer Li Tsung-sheng. Shown at the 1998 East West Film Festival (London). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pu Quanxin, Lu Liping, (more)












