Tian Yuan Movies
- 2008
A generation of young adults ponder their friendships, loves, expectations, and life ambitions while wandering the streets of a city that evolves at a faster rate than they mature in Dutch director David Verbeek's three-tiered look at life in the contemporary Chinese city of Shanghai. The first tale, a melancholy meditation on lost love, follows intelligent country-boy Xu Yu as the object of his affections drifts away after becoming enamored by the world of the nouveau riche and moving into a wealthy new district. Later, night owl hipsters Jenny and her boyfriend Calvin, a popular nightclub DJ, are troubled to learn just how temporary and vulnerable their vapid lifestyle truly is. The final story follows Dutch architect Jochem as he relocates to Shanghai and becomes enamored with an elegant and ambitious beauty named Zhang Yi. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tygo Gernandt, Tian Yuan, (more)
Chinese director Wang Xiaoshuai crafts his pensive study of life in modern China concerning a couple who are confronted with love, responsibility, morality, and loyalty after their relationship fails and their young daughter falls ill. Years ago, Mei Zhu and Xiao Lu were a happily married couple with a beautiful daughter named Hehe. But the marriage ultimately failed, and the pair ultimately parted ways. Years later, Mei Zhu and Xiao Lu have both remarried, and Hehe is the only link that still bonds them together. When Hehe is diagnosed with leukemia, the doctors relay that the only hope for the ailing girl is a bone marrow transplant from a healthy sibling. Realizing that Hehe has no siblings, her desperate mother and father are suddenly faced with a life altering decision. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Liu Weiwei, Yu Nan, (more)
A father searching for his long lost son in central China discovers that his daughter's glamorous lifestyle masks a dark secret that may provide clues to her elusive brother's whereabouts in this director Wang Chow's subdued tale of broken dreams and pensive yearning. Yan Hong (Tian Yuan) is a pretty girl from rural China who has set out to seek her fortune in the bustling streets of Wuhan. When her father Li Qiming (Wu Youcai) arrives with word that his wife is suffering from uterine cancer and would like to see her son Xueqin once more before she dies, Yan Hong agrees to offers to put him up in an apartment she shares with local prostitute A Li (Li Li). Though her hectic schedule will not permit Yan Hong to assist her father in his search for Xueqin, the ageing schoolteacher eventually receives help from an ageing cop (Li Yiqing) who is in the waning days of a long career on the force. When Li discovers that Yan Hong is currently working as an escort at a local karaoke club, the impact of the saddening revelation is soon offset by the arrival of news that his son may now be residing in Shenzhen. Though Yan Hong's criminal boss He (Huang He) - who has recently impregnated the young escort - gracefully poses as her boyfriend in a bid to pay proper respect to the girl's soft spoken father, another local gangster (Wang Guoqiang) isn't so pleased that someone has come looking for Xueqin, and soon sets into motion a plan to ensure that the unsuspecting Li not live long enough to learn of his son's decidedly grim fate. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2006
Young love gets a second chance in this romantic comedy-drama from China. Qi Qi (Pu Pu) and Xi (Tian Yuan) are two close friends who attend the same school in Beijing. Xi has a major crush on Yi Huan (Song Ning), the star of the school track team, but amateur astrologer Qi Qi warns her the stars say they'll never be together. Despite her friend's advice, Xi tries to interest Yi Huan in her, but their short-lived romance ends badly for both of them. Qi Qi, meanwhile, has little luck with the opposite sex, though nerdy Yong Liang (Wu Xiaoliang) is clearly infatuated with her. Years later, Qi Qi and Xi are still friends and still single when they head out after work to a nightclub to celebrate Xi's birthday. Xi is surprised to find that Yi Huan is working at the club as a disc jockey, while Qi Qi bumps into Yong Liang for the first time in years. Older and wiser, Xi and Yi Huan decide to give their relationship another try, while lovesick Yong Liang startles Qi Qi by asking her to marry him. Young and Clueless (aka Qing chun qi) was the first directorial project for established screenwriter Tang Danian. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2006
A young Hong Kong girl divides her time between working in her uncle's dressmaking shop and studying for school in director Mak Yan Yan's four-season celluloid song. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tian Yuan, Dean Fujioka, (more)
