Yuan Quan Movies
- 2003
Yang Yazhou's drama Pretty Big Feet is about a pair of very different women who become friends. Xia Yu (Yuan Quan) is a big city teacher who takes a job in a small-town school led by Zhang Meili (Ni Ping). While the two butt heads initially, Zhang soon realizes that everything Xia does is to help Zhang's students. Xia's marriage is going through a very rough patch, and Zhang attempts to strike up a romance with a local projectionist. The film concludes when the two women make a trip to Beijing. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
A grieving peasant still mourning the death of her husband and young son opens a school in the remote and barren landscape of northwest China in director Yang Yazhou's stark but affecting drama. When Zhang Meili lost her family, she also lost her purpose in life. Now determined not to fall victim to her sorrow, Zhang decides to leave her bad memories behind and start life anew by giving back to the community. Xia Yu is an unhappy housewife from Beijing who longs to make a difference, too. After abandoning her husband to assist Zhang Meili in her noble efforts, the pair soon form a close-knit bond and Xia Yu learns just how rewarding the life of a teacher can be. The situation grows complicated, however, when Xia Yu's husband arrives imploring his wife to return home, and Zhang Meili becomes involved in a clandestine relationship with a local projectionist. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2001
A cop finds himself facing a dangerous assignment, finding love, and confronting his notions about the nature of art all at once in this drama from China. Tai Lin (Pan Yueming) is a young man with a creative bent and a love of painting, but practical matters dictated that he get a "real job," and he's recently joined the police force. One day, he sees a young woman about to jump from a bridge, and he leaps in to rescue her. However, Tai Lin is informed by attractive Liu Yun (Yuan Quan) that she's an actress, and that her attempted leap was just part of a performance art project. At once embarrassed and intrigued, Tai Lin becomes aquainted with Liu Yun, and she soon asks him to help her find a man who helped save her life years before. Tai Lin's research leads him into a murder case that's gone unsolved for two decades, but at the same time the young cop isn't entirely certain that he isn't being sent on a wild goose chase in the name of performance art. Lanse Aiqing received its North American premier at the 2001 Montreal Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pan Yueming, Yuan Quan, (more)
Composer Zhao Liming has found himself at a juncture of juxtapositions during China's cultural revolution. Torn between his own dreams and his obligations to society, between the love and friendship he feels for the same girl, and between innovative music and traditional. He is determined, however, to create an opera that preserves the Chinese traditional Dogu song within the context of a Western style opera. At the brink of major changes, Zhao knows that he could lose everything if he fails. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
