Ren Zhonglun Movies

The descendants of two 19th century spiritual sisters struggle to maintain their enduring bond by exploring their ancestral connection in modern-day Shanghai. Connected as "laotong" (old sames) at the tender age of seven, Snow Flower and Lily grow up in isolation and develop a language all their own. In the folds of a white silk fan, they exchange furtive messages that only they can decipher. Meanwhile, in 21st century China, Flower's and Lily's descendants Nina and Sophia find the growing demands of their respective careers and their complicated love lives threatening to drive them apart. Only by focusing on the timeless messages hidden between the folds of that cherished fan will Nina and Sophia find the secrets to keeping their friendship alive, and avoid letting the demands of modern living shatter an ancient bond of friendship. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan was adapted from author Lisa See's best-selling novel of the same name. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Legendary martial arts choreographer Yuen Woo Ping returned to the director's chair for the first time in nearly a decade and a half with this lavish historical action-drama. Su Can (Vincent Zhao) is a fearless warrior in the late days of the Quin Dynasty, and after serving his time in the military he's eager to return home to his beautiful wife, Yuan Ying (Zhou Xun), and start a family. Six years later, his half-brother, Yuang (Andy On), shatters Su Can's idyllic life; filled with hatred for his kin, Yuang has developed a deadly martial arts technique, "The Five Venom Fist," and after using it to vanquish his foes on the battlefield, he's come to get revenge against Su Can. While Su Can can hold his own against Yuang and saves the life of Yuan Ying, Yuang steals their young son and takes him away. After the loss of his son, Su Can falls into a deep depression that grows far worse when his wife dies while searching for their missing child. Su Can becomes a reclusive alcoholic and seems destined to stay that way until he learns his son is alive and needs his help. With the guidance of Lord Wushu (Jay Chou), Su Can trains to win back his fighting skills, mastering "The Drunken Fist," and sets out to rescue his son. Featuring supporting performances from David Carradine, Michelle Yeoh, and Gordon Liu, Su Qi Er (aka True Legend) was an official selection at the 2010 Berlin International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A celebrated Chinese hero returns to the mainland seven years after the fight that made him a myth, and assumes the identity of a masked crusader in order to expose the clandestine alliance between the Japanese and the mafia, and to procure a vital assassination list in this epic action thriller from Infernal Affairs director Andy Lau. At the height of the Warlord Era, China is being torn apart though internal conflict, allowing Japanese forces to gain a foothold in Northern Shanghai. His mentor murdered by Japanese troops, Chinese avenger Chen Zhen (Donnie Yen) single-handedly defeats an entire dojo full of enemy combatants amidst a blinding shower of bullets. Though his body is never recovered, Chen Zhen is presumed to have perished in the fight. Flash forward seven years, when high-ranking Japanese officials rub elbows with ruthless gangsters in the lavish Casablanca nightclub as the impoverished masses starve in the streets. Suddenly, into the Shanghai social scene steps a wealthy entrepreneur named "Ku" (also Yen), whose obvious affluence quickly gains him an audience with the most powerful mob boss in town. Little do the local criminal masterminds realize it's all an elaborate ruse; by day Ku uses his relationship with the formidable gangster to gather intelligence on the collusion between the Chinese underworld and the Japanese military, and by night he dons a mask in order to fight the powers attempting to oppress his people. But the closer Ku grows to scorching beauty Kiki (Shu Qi), the more he risks blowing his cover. Later, when Ku discovers evidence of a top-secret Japanese hit list that threatens to shift the balance of power in their favor, he prepares to risk his life in a fight that could alter the future of an entire nation, and give the downtrodden masses hope for a better future. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Traditional basketball and the practice of kung fu intersect with startling and surprisingly humorous results in Chu Yin Ping's martial arts comedy Kung Fu Dunk. Jay Chou stars as Shi-Jie, a child bereft by his parents as an infant but ceremoniously adopted by the master of the local kung fu school. Unsurprisingly, growing up in this environment, Shi-Jie trains aggressively in kung fu and develops an intuitive ability to predict his opponents' moves before they occur - an ability that translates effortlessly to skills on the basketball court. In time the youth catches the eye of Chen-Li, a businessman who sees Shi-Jie's potential for monetary exploitation and convinces him to play basketball for a nearby college. Chen-Li buries his real motives beneath his phony expressed desire to help the young man regain contact with his family, and unfortunately, Shi-Jie fails to see through it. He's far more fixated on achieving team stardom for personal reasons that involve wooing the sister of team captain Ting-Wei. Meanwhile, the entire team must face the prospect of squaring off against a rival team so vicious and brutal that their on-court tactics have caused them to be banned in the United States. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

The Fast and the Furious director Rob Cohen continues the tale set into motion by director Stephen Sommers with this globe-trotting adventure that finds explorer Rick O'Connell and son attempting to thwart a resurrected emperor's (Jet Li) plan to enslave the entire human race. It's been 2,000 years since China's merciless Emperor Han and his formidable army were entombed in terra cotta clay by a double-dealing sorceress (Michelle Yeoh), but now, after centuries in suspended animation, an ancient curse is about to be broken. Thanks to his childhood adventures alongside father Rick (Brendan Fraser) and mother Evelyn (Maria Bello), dashing young archeologist Alex O'Connell (Luke Ford) is more than familiar with the power of the supernatural. After he is tricked into awakening the dreaded emperor from his eternal slumber, however, the frightened young adventurer is forced to seek out the wisdom of his parents -- both of whom have had their fair share of experience battling the legions of the undead. Should the fierce monarch prove capable of awakening his powerful terra cotta army, his diabolical plan for world domination will finally be set into motion. Of course, the one factor that this emperor mummy failed to consider while solidifying his power-mad plans was the O'Connells, and before this battle is over, the monstrous monarch will be forced to contend with the one family that isn't frightened by a few rickety reanimated corpses. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A veteran of China's Civil War rails against modern bureaucracy in hopes of finally receiving recognition for his bravery and to honor the memory of his fallen comrades in director Feng Xiaogang's big-budget war drama. The year was 1948, and the fighting between the Nationalist KMT and the Communist PLA is raging. In a small, northeast China town, Captain Gu Zidi (Zhang Hanyu) leads the Ninth Company in a fierce skirmish against the a rapidly weakening KMT unit. His blood boiling over the death of a political officer in battle, Captain Gu vengefully kills a KMT soldier despite the fact that the leader and his unit have just surrendered. Imprisoned for a few short days as a sort-of token gesture, Captain Gu makes the acquaintance of imprisoned political officer Wang Juncun (Yuan Wenkang, who has just been accused of cowardice and will likely receive the death penalty. Later, when Captain Gu is ordered to take the Ninth out on a dangerous mission, he requests that Wang join the brigade in battle. Unfortunately for the majority of the squad, the KMT forces are much more substantial this time around, and though a few men claim to have heard the signal for retreat, Captain Gu commands them to stand their ground: In the aftermath of the slaughter, Captain Gu is the last man standing. Still, the valiant soldier stages a remarkable recovery, and goes on to save the life of North Korean Er Dou (Deng Chao) during a battle against the Americans and South Koreans. A few years later, Captain Gu enlists the aid of Er Dou and Wang's widow in regaining his honor, and ensuring that his fellow soldiers didn't die in vain. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A man finds violence and corruption in an unexpected place in this adventurously structured drama from Chinese filmmaker Qi Jian. When Li Tiangou (Fu Dalong) is found seriously injured after a series of violent altercations in a small town in the woods, Wu (Wang Jianrong), a local official, and Wang (Zhou Li), a representative of the forestry service, are brought in to investigate. They learn that Li was a military veteran who after leaving the service found a job as a forest ranger in a state-protected woodland. The locals soon learn that Li is a scrupulously honest man -- too honest for the taste of some, especially the Kong Family, who have been earning their living by illegally harvesting trees for years. Unlike his predecessors, Li isn't willing to look the other way in exchange for kickbacks, and Kong Yilong (Gao Changhao) decides Li should be punished for his failure to cooperate. When simple harassment and cutting off power and water to Li's home fail to change his mind, Kong Yinlong (Liu Xiaoxi) takes matters to the next level by attacking Li's wife Taohua (Zhu Yuanyuan); when the corrupt leader of the village (Liu Zifeng) refuses to come to Li's aid, the ranger is forced by circumstances to take the law into his own hands. Tiangou (aka The Forest Ranger) was screened in competition at the 2006 Shanghai Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Jia Zhang Ke's haunting minimalist drama Still Life (aka Sanxia Haoren) takes as its focal point the real-life construction of the Three Gorges Hydro Project and it accompanying massive dam over the Yangtze River in China (allegedly the largest manmade dam in the world) -- a project that required engineers to flood the surrounding territories, including the two millennia-old city of Fengjie. Jia interweaves two stories in connection with the geographical transformation of that area. In the first, Han Sanming (Han Sanming), a miner from northern China, revisits the vicinity after a 16-year absence and attempts to find his wife and his adult daughter -- trying to locate them at addresses that now exist underwater. In the second story, nurse Shen Hong (Zhao Tao) also returns to the site of Fengjie and scours the area for her husband, who has been estranged from her for two years, and who, it seems, has become consumed by the work and lifestyle of an executive. The marriage, it turns out, is irreparable. Meanwhile, as a documentary-style backdrop to these stories, the old structures of Fengjie are continually destroyed -- walls brought to crumbling heaps, towers blown to bits -- and new, makeshift structures installed as replacements. The film thus becomes a sad-eyed meditation on the nature of social change and progress, but it is one that requires the audience to extract these deeper themes and tropes on its own, via inference and deduction. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Acclaimed director Peter Chan takes the helm for this lavish, award winning musical concerning the love triangle between a handsome actor, his beautiful co-star, and a talented film director. Lin (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and his ex-lover Sun (Zhou Xun) are shooting a movie for celebrated director Nie Wen (Jacky Cheung) when the flames of their former passion are gradually rekindled. A charismatic director who has poured his entire heart and soul into making a movie about a passionate love triangle, Nie finds his entire production about to collapse as Lin does everything in his power to win back the ravishing Sun. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi