At the moment I'm restricting this page to products available from Amazon, and given that Amazon has an ridiculously
small selection of Chinese cinema and music, this page will be a lot smaller than it should be. I'll look for online stores
that have better selections and hopefully expand this soon. If you can help, let me know.
All movie links are to DVD's. (UK) links go to amazon.co.uk, (US) ones go to amazon.com. If you can't find what you want, try the
direct links to Amazon, and also let me know what you'd like to see here.
the road home
Chinese director Zhang Yimou is one of few to achieve critical success in the West. This, one of his best-loved films, tells a
simple love story set against postcard scenery and the poetry and poverty of rural China. Told from the point of view of the couple's
son returning home (the Chinese title translates as 'My mother and father') it's a lyrical and sometimes slow-paced
tale which uses stunning views and subtle story-telling to keep you watching. Stars Zhang Ziyi, the
young girl from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon in her first film role, though don't go expecting any high-kicks or fancy swordplay.
(UK)
not one less
Again, Zhang Yimou tells a tale of duty and responsibility in rural China.
A 13-year-old girl is given charge of the village elementary school while the teacher is away and is told not to lose any
of the pupils. Finding one of her pupils has gone to the city to
find work, sets off to find him and bring him back. Cue lots of 'little kids in the big city' scenes, with as much of a happy
ending as crushing rural poverty will allow. The cast largely consists of children, and much as I dislike children, they
do a damned fine job in this film.
(UK)
hard boiled
If you only buy one Hong Kong movie involving cops, guns and double-crossing, buy this Hong Kong movie involving cops, guns and double-crossing.
Chow Yun-Fat starts by sliding down stair-rails with a gun in each hand, and ends by fighting off an army of bad guys with a
gun in one hand and a blood-splattered baby in the other. The film alternates between the set-piece action that John Woo is now so
famous for and gloomy 'I'm so tough, but soft inside' characterization of hero Tequila. Probably the best film ever made with a
main character named after a Mexican spirit.
(UK)
chungking express
Set in the concrete jungle of Hong Kong, this is two short films in one, loosely held together by a snack bar. Personally I
didn't too much like the first section. The second, which stars HK diva Faye Wong, is fantastic and Ms Wong herself is even fantasticker.
Worth buying for this second section alone, and if you don't like the second section then it's still worth buying for the music video-like
section where quirkly-charming but potentially nuts Faye flounces around her stalkee-cop's apartment to the sound of her own 'Dream Lover', a Cantonese cover of
the Cranberries 'Dreams'. And if you don't like that, get it just so you can adore the doe-eyed Faye herself. Admittedly, if you
don't like looking at Faye, you should maybe think about buying something else. Like spectacles.
(UK)
in the mood for love
Passion and intrigue in the close quarters of a Hong Kong apartment block. Beautifully filmed and entrancingly told, our two
protaganists come to realise their spouses are having an affair and inevitably do the same. I'm not sure if the Maggie Leung's
buttocks won an Oscar for Best Supporting Role, but they should have.
(UK)
most favourite faye
A collection of Faye Wong's best Cantonese and Mandarin songs, this is amazon.co.uk's entire contemporary Chinese music section, which I personally
find a bit disappointing. It's also very expensive as it's an import and judging from the script down the side of the picture,
an import from Japan at that. However, if you're happy to spend a lot of money to hear the distilled excellence of Hong Kong's
finest and longest-lived queen of pop, go ahead. However, bear in mind you can buy it for 80p in China.
(UK)