Luoyong Wang Movies
James Ivory directed this historical drama of a man who has shut himself away from a world he cannot change. Todd Jackson (Ralph Fiennes) is an American expatriate living in Shanghai in the late '30s. While Jackson was once an American diplomat who came to Shanghai with great optimism about China's future, the bitter political squabbling and military violence that are a part of daily life in China caused him to become bitterly disillusioned. Jackson also lost most of his sight, and he has retreated into Shanghai's decadent underworld of bars and brothels rather than face the world. When a wager on a horse race wins Jackson a small fortune, he decides to indulge a long-time fancy and build the perfect Shanghai bar, one that would ideally reflect that corrupt beauty of the city, and he is joined in his project by Matsuda (Hiroyuki Sanada), a Japanese man with a mysterious past and an appreciation for Shanghai's underbelly. While assembling his pet project, Jackson meets Sofia (Natasha Richardson), a Russian countess who fled her home during the revolution and now lives in Shanghai, supporting her family as a dance-hall girl and occasional prostitute. In Sofia, Jackson discovers a fusion of beauty and tragedy that fascinates him, and he asks her to become the hostess at his new bar. As Jackson becomes closer to Sofia, his cynicism begins to wear away and he develops a deep concern for Sofia and her family. The White Countess also co-stars Vanessa Redgrave, and Lynn Redgrave -- respectively Natasha Richardson's mother and aunt. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Fiennes, Natasha Richardson, (more)
Two girls born at the same time on different sides of the world are brought together by an act of mercy in this drama. Katie (Mika Boorem) is a high-school student who has grown up in a wealthy suburb of Los Angeles. While Katie has never had to want for material things, she feels a certain dissatisfaction in her life, and between dealing with her combative parents (Beau Bridges and Linda Hamilton), her sexually aggressive boyfriend (Erik von Detten), and a mysterious boy who has caught her eye (Jonathan Trent), Katie is ready for a change in her life. One of Katie's teachers, Mr. Matthews (Sean Astin) persuades Katie to investigate Doctor's Gift, an international medical outreach program, as a rewarding volunteer opportunity that would look good on her college admission forms. Katie end up traveling to China with the Doctor's Gift team, where she discovers a world far different than the one she has known. Katie encounters Lin (Yi Ding), a girl who was born the same day she was but has led a very different life; facially disfigured, Lin was abandoned by her parents as an infant, and when she was taken in by Daniel (Luoyong Wang), it caused a rift that ended his marriage. The Doctor's Gift organization has offered to provide plastic surgery for Lin through their affiliated program Project Smile, but after previous surgery failed to correct her defects, Lin isn't so sure she wants to risk another disappointment. Writer and director Jeff Kramer based Smile on his daughter's experiences as a volunteer with Doctor's Gift, and the producers have pledged to donate a portion of the film's profits to the organization ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mika Boorem, Luoyong Wang, (more)
A collection of evil corporate conglomerates are using their powerful influence to play a deadly game with the citizens of a major metropolitan city, and upon discovering the diabolical scheme, a fearsome bounty hunter and a determined police detective find that beating the moneymen at their own game may cost them their lives in this futuristic thriller starring Joan Chen and David Warner. With thousands of lives on the line, including their own, the determined pair desperately attempt to beat the clock, dodge the bullet, and ensure that the white-collar madmen who set this deadly plan into motion pay for their heinous crimes against humanity. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Genevieve O'Reilly, Luoyong Wang, (more)
An Asian-American woman and her mother both find their private lives are becoming a family matter in this romantic comedy-drama. Wilhelmina Pang (Michelle Krusiec) is a surgeon living in Manhattan whose mother (Joan Chen) is eager for her to settle down with a nice man and get married. What Ma doesn't know is that Wilhelmina happens to be a lesbian -- or rather, Ma prefers not to acknowledge it, since she once walked in on Wilhelmina and her girlfriend several years before. As it happens, Wilhelmina is looking for someone special in her life, and thinks she may have found her in Vivian (Lynn Chen), a beautiful dancer, but a fear of commitment and a desire to keep her medical career on track is making their relationship problematic. As Wilhelmina tries to get her love life in order, her mother's shifts into crisis mode. Ma, a 48-year-old widow, has just discovered she's pregnant, and her staunchly traditional father (Li Zhiyu) will not allow her back into the home they share until she's married someone respectable. Unwilling to name the father of her baby, Ma is forced to move in with Wilhelmina, and while enduring the emotional roller coaster of pregnancy she is being pressured by friends and relatives to marry Cho (Nathaniel Geng), a sweet but boring man she doesn't especially like. Saving Face was the first feature film from writer and director Alice Wu. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michelle Krusiec, Joan Chen, (more)
