Liu Peiqi Movies
- 2007
As the local rivers swell and the urban population is evacuated, a retired policeman escorting three dangerous convicts to another institution finds a simple transportation job complicated by the rapidly worsening natural disaster. The local riverbanks are about to burst, and in order to ensure that three prisoners don't face a watery demise, retired cop Lao Ma is asked to transport the men to safer surroundings. Among Lao Ma's charges is a convicted killer currently awaiting execution, a notorious embezzler rumored to have hidden his fortune before serving his time, and a stone faced thief whose parole date is just on the horizon. When the waterlogged countryside roads prove impassable and the four men are forced to work together to make it through the night alive, the nervous lawman realizes that his gun is the only thing keeping him in charge, and he's only got five rounds of authority left. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Chen Kaige's first Chinese film since the poorly received, Hollywood-produced Killing Me Softly is based on a true story of an adolescent violin prodigy coming of age in Beijing. Raised in a small town, Xiao Chun (Tang Yun) is brought to Beijng by his devoted single father, Lui Cheng (Liu Peiqi), who recognizes his talent and is determined to make him a success. After losing a rigged competition for admission into a prestigious music school, Xaio Chun is taken as a student by a brilliant but distracted teacher, Jiang (Wang Zhiwen), and begins to become distracted himself by his twenty-something party-girl neighbor Lili (Chen Hong). He eventually leaves Jiang for more rigorous study under a more famous teacher, Professor Yu (played by director Chen himself), which leaves him torn between his burgeoning career and the loving father who has sacrificed so much for his benefit. Woven throughout the narrative are trenchant comments about the changing face of modern Beijing. ~ Tom Vick, All Movie Guide
- 2000
- PG
- Add Shadow Magic to Queue
Chinese-born, American-based director Ann Hu debuts with this epic historical drama about the introduction of motion pictures to China during the beginning of the 20th century. The film is based on a true story of Liu Jung (Xia Yu), a Peking photographer who struggles to start a film industry in China in spite of the strong anti-Western sentiment of the time. At the film's outset, Liu Jung is scolded by his autocratic boss Master Ren (Liu Peiqi) for his obsession with Western gizmos after he brings home a junked Victrola. During a photo session with China's most famous opera star, Lord Tan (Li Yusheng), Liu Jung runs into Raymond Wallace (Jared Harris), a mysterious Brit who is hell-bent on introducing movies (called "shadow magic") to the Emperor. As soon as Liu Jung sees his first frame, he is hooked on the medium and committed to Wallace's scheme. This film was screened at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jared Harris, Xia Yu, (more)
- 1994
- NR
A satire of the influence of Western values and ideals on Eastern culture, Chinese director Zhou Xiaowen's Ermo stars actress Ailiya as its titular heroine, a beautiful middle-aged wife and mother who undertakes an obsessive struggle to earn enough money to buy her family a television. In a dreary, remote Chinese village, miles away from anything smacking of the modern, Ermo lives with her son Huzi (Yan Zhenguo) and her husband (Ge Zhijun) -- a lazy, whiny, and impotent man who spends his time drinking medicine that he hopes will restore his virility. After traveling to the nearest town to sell the noodles that she makes, she spies a large television set in a department-store window and becomes obsessed with the notion of purchasing the biggest TV in the community in order to earn a spot of honor and envy on the social ladder. Sadly, she becomes increasingly sucked into the vacuum of capitalism, ultimately finding herself an object of mass consumption as well. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
With The Story of Qiu Ju, internationally acclaimed Chinese director Zhang Yimou shifts his attention from powerful historical dramas (Raise the Red Lantern and Ju Dou) to contemporary life. Gong Li plays the titular heroine, an average woman in a rural village whose life is unexceptional until her husband is physically attacked by the village elder. When the elder refuses to apologize, Qiu Ju decides to seek legal action with the help of a local magistrate. Soon, her quest for simple justice balloons into a series of frustrating battles with a complicated and unproductive bureaucracy. In contrast to the rich, painterly look of his previous films, Zhang adopts an unadorned, realistic style that allows the film's increasingly absurd situations to speak for themselves. Indeed, while the look at government gone wrong has serious underpinnings, the overall tone remains one of understated satire. As might be expected, The Story of Qiu Ju was received with greater appreciation by international critics than in its home country. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
