Feng Xiaogang Movies

Two Chinese expatiates living in California find their paths keep crossing, for good or ill, in the comedy Bu Jian Bu San/Be There Or Be Square. Li Quig (Xu Fan) is staying is Los Angeles and housesitting for a friend when a group of aspiring filmmakers, including Liu Yuan (Ge You), accidentally destroy the place. Liu lets her stay at his place, glamourously located in a trailer park, but they don't get along very well and he's hardly upset when she leaves, supposedly to return to Beijing. However, she never gets out of L.A., and over the next two years Li and Liu find they can't seem to avoid each other. In time enmity grows into a grudging friendship, but will a romance ever bloom for this mis-matched pair? Bu Jian Bu San/Be There Or Be Square reunites the stars (Xu Fan and Ge You) and director (Feng Xiaogang) of the 1997 Chinese hit Party A, Party B. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A huge hit in its homeland of China, this screwball episodic comedy serves mostly as a showcase for the popular comedian Ge You. You's Inspector Clouseau-like Han Dong bumbles his way through a faked kidnapping, hoping to collect the sizable ransom money involved. Meanwhile, he finds himself attracted to the very woman he's meant to abduct. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

An American movie maker famous for living large wants to die in his own unique manner -- which turns out to be harder to pull off than anyone expected -- in this offbeat comedy from Chinese director Feng Xiaogang. Don Tyler (Donald Sutherland) is a well-known American filmmaker who has come to China to direct an epic scale costume drama about the last emperor of China. Lucy (Rosamund Kwan), Tyler's Chinese-American assistant and translator, hires YoYo (Ge You), a cameraman whose career has seen better days, to make a documentary about Tyler's massive project. Tyler and YoYo quickly hit it off and become friends; Tyler, however, isn't feeling especially inspired, and is haunted by thoughts of his own mortality. YoYo tells Tyler of the traditions of the common funeral in China, but Tyler is convinced YoYo was talking about a "comedy funeral," and after he falls ill following his firing by producer Tony (Paul Mazursky), Tyler begs YoYo to arrange such a memorial for him. YoYo sheepishly agrees, and when he's unsure of how to proceed, he seeks the help of noted event promoter Louis King (Ying Da). King whips up a massive funeral for Tyler, but it turns out that neither Tyler nor YoYo have the money to pay for it. King then strikes upon the idea of bringing in corporate sponsors to help bring the event into the black. Soon, dozens of multinational corporations are vying for the privilege of scoring advertising space during Tyler's televised funeral, but a fly appears in the ointment -- Tyler turns a corner, and it looks as if he won't be dying after all. Big Shot's Funeral marked the first major international project for director Feng Xiaogang, who has worked several times in the past with leading man Ge You, a major comic star in China. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The work of international superstar Stephen Chow, Kung Fu Hustle is a humorous, special-effects-filled, action-packed martial arts epic set in early '40s China. A bumbling thief named Sing (Stephen Chow) desires to be the toughest member of the dreaded gangster hit squad known as The Axe Gang, but to completely join the gang he has to commit murder. When Sing attempts to rob a crowded run-down apartment complex known as Pig Sty Alley, the locals begin to defend themselves with some high-flying kung fu skills, and a tiny war erupts between the local masters and the axe-wielding gang. After the gang busts the ancient kung fu king known as The Beast (Leung Siu Lung) out of jail, tensions reach a boiling point as Pig Sty Alley's landlady (Yuen Qiu) leads an all-out attack against the gang and Sing discovers his true heroic fate. Kung Fu Hustle, which set box-office records across Asia during its December 2004 release, also stars Yuen Wah and Xing Yu, and features fight choreography by legendary masters of martial arts cinema Yuen Woo Ping and Sammo Hung. ~ Jason Gibner, Rovi

A World Without Thieves director Feng Xiaogang shifts his focus from modern-day con artists to tenth century intrigue with this tale of internal turmoil in the age of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms starring Zhang Ziyi, Daniel Wu, and Ge You. Her empire on the verge of a massive revolution as storms begin to brew both within the royal court as well as in the outlying kingdoms, the entrancing Empress Wan (Zhang) gazes upon her stepson, Prince Wu Luan (Wu), with the eyes of a forbidden lover rather than a caring mother. When the emperor dies an unexpected death and his younger brother Li (Ge) ascends to the throne, Empress Wan marries the newly appointed sovereign as a means of both protecting her beloved Wu Luan and cementing her position within the royal court. When assassins dispatched by Emperor Li fail in their attempt to silence Wu Luan and his majesty subsequently announces a lavish banquet, Empress Wan and Wu Luan realize that the time has finally come for them to take action against the murderous despot. The film demonstrates tremendous influence by Shakespearean plays, specifically Hamlet and Macbeth. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Writer and director Pang Ho-cheung presents seven short sketches of small but emotionally telling moments in this omnibus collection. Isabel Chan and Eason Chan play a young couple who are living together but, to his despair, she doesn't want to sleep with him until they get married. When she consents to have sex to celebrate Christmas, he begins looking for holidays that will put her into a festive mood. An actor (Chapman To) visiting Hong Kong on business is struck with loneliness, and hires a prostitute (Zhang Zheng) to spend some time with him. Kei (Stephy Tang) and Ah Wai (Gillian Chung) are two close friends from school who haven't seen each other for nearly ten years, and discover they no longer have much in common beyond a lingering infatuation with the same aging pop star. A lovelorn guy (Kenny Kwan) tries to impress the girl he loves in high school (Angela Baby) by naming a heavenly body after her, which has unexpected consequences. A hired killer (Shawn Yue) who takes a casual but businesslike approach to his work decides to relax and smoke a joint with his target (Conroy Chan) before pulling the trigger. A college professor (Chan Fai Hung) whose relationship with his wife (Kristal Tin) is faltering turns to one of his students (January Lamb) for advice on putting his marriage back on track. And a would-be ladies' man (Edison Chen) reveals he has a very peculiar way of impressing women. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Two crooks with secrets up their sleeves battle for control of a Chinese town in this action comedy. It's the era of the Chinese warlords in the 1920s, and the new governor of Goosetown (Feng Xiaogang) is taking the train into town with his wife (Carina Lau) and right-hand man Tang (Ge You). However, a handful of bandits led by Pocky Zhang (Jiang Wen) want to capture the train, and the explosion they set proves bigger than they expected and the new governor is killed. Pocky realizes no one in Goosetown has seen the new governor, so he decides to take his place, and the dead governor's wife and Tang are forced to play along. Meanwhile in Goosetown, Huang (Chow Yun-Fat) is a powerful criminal who deals in slaves and opium; he's convinced one of his many enemies will kill him, so he employs a simple-minded local man who looks exactly like him (also played by Chow Yun-Fat) to serve as his decoy. When Pocky arrives in town, he goes out of his way to make friends with his new "constituents," and Huang sees he has a powerful rival for the loyalties of the community. The rivalry between Pocky and Huang escalates into a shooting war, though Huang doesn't know Pocky isn't the real governor and Pocky doesn't realize there's more than one Huang. Let the Bullets Fly was a massive box-office success in China, becoming the top-grossing domestic release of all time upon its release in 2010. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A North Henan landlord in China embarks on a pilgrimage to Shaanxi province during the 1942 famine, struggling to survive as war with Japan looms on the horizon. His house beset by starving villagers, Landlord Fan (Zhang Guoli) endeavors to calm the crowd by preparing a feast. But his house is burned down in the chaos, prompting Fan, his teenage daughter Xingxing (Fiona Wang), his servant Shuanzhu (Zhang Mo), and his tenant Huazhi (Xu Fan) to embark on a treacherous journey south. Along the way, encounters with an American journalist (Adrien Brody), and a priest (Zhang Hanyu) who has lost his faith reveal the true depth of the despair that grips the country. All of these hardships prompt Fan to make some devastating sacrifices that leave him a broken man. Meanwhile, the Japanese government attempts to turn the Chinese people away from their government by offering them sustenance, while the Chinese government finds themselves forced to choose between feeding their troops or the masses. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi