Best 100 Chinese movies -- How many have you watched?

March 17, 2005 at 03:54 PM

(3) Tian Zhuang Zhuang is the representative of 4th generation directors.

I think you meant 5th generation, right?

I prefer the older 100 Greatest Chinese Films of the 20th Century compiled at the end of 1999:

http://www.chinesecinemas.org/chinacentury.html (English)

The original link in Chinese is no longer available.

It's a little out of date but an overall better list I think.

March 18, 2005 at 04:22 PM

what??? where is 墮落天使? that's my favourite film.

i like 重慶森林, but that movie was just slapped together in 2 months while 王家衛 was taking a break from making 東邪西毒.

March 18, 2005 at 05:21 PM

what??? where is 墮落天使? that's my favourite film.
i like 重慶森林, but that movie was just slapped together in 2 months while 王家衛 was taking a break from making 東邪西毒.

If you're in the DC area, Fallen Angels, and all of WKW's films are playing at the AFI Silver, most this weekend. For the record, Ashes of Time is my favorite, Fallen Angels probably my least.

http://www.afi.com/silver/new/nowplaying/2005/V1I16/KARWAISERIES.ASPX

March 19, 2005 at 03:13 AM

If you're in the DC area, Fallen Angels, and all of WKW's films are playing at the AFI Silver, most this weekend. For the record, Ashes of Time is my favorite, Fallen Angels probably my least.
http://www.afi.com/silver/new/nowplaying/2005/V1I16/KARWAISERIES.ASPX

oh thanks.

i've seen all his films and have most of them on VCDs or DVDs, but i might go watch one of them this weekend if i have nothing to do.

ChungKing Express, Fallen Angels, and Ashes of Time actually essentially have the same theme. i like Fallen Angels more than Ashes of Time because it was dark and in the modern setting - in my opinion it captured the reality of how people in Hong Kong live in such close physical proximity but are all so emotionally far apart. the difference with Ashes of Time was that it was in 武俠 setting.

March 20, 2005 at 11:54 PM

There are many "best 100 Chinese film" list released this year, and this is a decent one (even if it is HK biased, 61 Hong Kong production made the list). It's to general knowlege that Springtime in Small Town is the great chinese film of all time, and the archetypical chinese film in terms of traditional chinese aestheticism, so it's no surprise they placed it at no.1. It's shame that many other great films didn't make the list; Raise the red Lantern, Jiang Wen's Devil on the doorstep, TIAN Zhuangzhuang's The Horse Thief (obviously the definitive 5th generation film making, and its best example). The great Taiwanese film The Puppet Master's omission also baffles me, and where is HOU Hsiao-Hsien's Flowers of Shanghai?

Some films I think should be higher:

JIA Zhangke's Platform, #63, should be way higher

The actress by Stanley KWAN, #44

Yi Yi, Edward Yang, 2000 #56

Farewell my Concubine, Chen kaige #55

The Spring River Flows East, CAI Chusheng, #27

and what about the films of the legendary shanghainess actress Hu Die? Zhou Xuan?

March 21, 2005 at 04:40 AM

There's at least on Zhou Xuan film on the list (Street Angel, at #11).

March 21, 2005 at 05:12 AM

I also found "Sorrows of the Forbidden City" with Zhou Xuan.

March 21, 2005 at 05:36 AM

There are many "best 100 Chinese film" list released this year, and this is a decent one (even if it is HK biased, 61 Hong Kong production made the list).

Do you have links to the other lists? The Village Voice does a "best of" poll every year in which they publish how each critic voted. I'd like to see that.

JIA Zhangke's Platform, #63, should be way higher

He takes naturalism to too much of an extreme. Makes you think that he's afraid to cut out scenes or something. I'd like to see him do a more conventional plot-driven movie.

March 21, 2005 at 08:25 AM

There's at least on Zhou Xuan film on the list (Street Angel, at #11)

Oops, missed that one, should've seen it. Other than that, I was completely unaware of the fact that she was in some of the other fillms on list (Sorrows of the Forbidden City, I was reading the translated version), and it didn't help that imdb only had one film credit attached to her name

March 22, 2005 at 12:12 AM

(even if it is HK biased, 61 Hong Kong production made the list)

Since HK has made more movies than either Mainland or Taiwan, naturally HK got more movies on the list.

But even so, the list missed many good HK (and Taiwan) movies.

I think the movie 星星月亮太陽 which was made by the archrival of Shaw Brothers, Cathay, should make to the list.

And I like Taiwan's 養鴨人家 (also made in the '60s) very much too.

March 22, 2005 at 01:19 AM

It seems Taiwan's film critics appreciated HK films more than HK critics themselves. 星星月亮太陽 was the Grand Opening Film in the 40th Golden Horse Film Festival (2003):

http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/3/11/25/n418058.htm

星星月亮太陽 (The star, moon and sun) represents three girls with different characters that the actor encountered during the turbulent days of WWII.

I recalled that Elvis Presley acted in a movie with similar story line (encountering girls with different characters but wound up marrying none of them) in the '60s.

March 22, 2005 at 05:10 AM

It brings back a lot of memories looking at that list. I counted at least 40 I've seen.

Ann Hui is heavily represented on this list. I haven't been able to find a lot of her older movies. I have seen Summer Snow a couple times, and it's one of my favorite movies. Josephine Siao Fong Fong is such a great actress.

The only one I would object strongly to is: 92 Legendary La Rose Noire