China & Taiwan: my favourites
by johndavies007 | created - 15 Oct 2018 | updated - 13 Nov 2021 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. In the Mood for Love (2000)
PG | 98 min | Drama, Romance
Two neighbors form a strong bond after both suspect extramarital activities of their spouses. However, they agree to keep their bond platonic so as not to commit similar wrongs.
Director: Kar-Wai Wong | Stars: Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Maggie Cheung, Siu Ping-Lam, Tung Cho 'Joe' Cheung
Votes: 166,823 | Gross: $2.73M
2. A Brighter Summer Day (1991)
Not Rated | 237 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Based on a true story, primarily on a conflict between two youth gangs, a 14-year-old boy's girlfriend conflicts with the head of one gang for an unclear reason, until finally the conflict comes to a violent climax.
Director: Edward Yang | Stars: Chang Chen, Lisa Yang, Kuo-Chu Chang, Elaine Jin
Votes: 12,766
3. An Elephant Sitting Still (2018)
230 min | Crime, Drama
Four people in a Chinese city live through a complicated day as their lives intersect.
Director: Bo Hu | Stars: Yu Zhang, Yuchang Peng, Uvin Wang, Zi Xi
Votes: 7,992 | Gross: $0.03M
4. I Am Not Madame Bovary (2016)
Not Rated | 128 min | Comedy, Drama
After being swindled by her ex-husband, a woman takes on the Chinese legal system.
Director: Xiaogang Feng | Stars: Bingbing Fan, Wei Fan, Xiaogang Feng, Tao Guo
Votes: 2,484 | Gross: $0.44M
5. Spring in a Small Town (1948)
98 min | Drama, Romance
A lonely housewife finds her monotonous life altered when her childhood sweetheart returns to town.
Director: Mu Fei | Stars: Chaoming Cui, Wei Li, Yu Shi, Wei Wei
Votes: 3,353
6. Chungking Express (1994)
PG-13 | 102 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Two melancholic Hong Kong policemen fall in love: one with a mysterious female underworld figure, the other with a beautiful and ethereal waitress at a late-night restaurant he frequents.
Director: Kar-Wai Wong | Stars: Brigitte Lin, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Faye Wong
Votes: 95,743 | Gross: $0.60M
7. So Long, My Son (2019)
185 min | Drama
Two married couples adjust to the vast social and economic changes taking place in China from the 1980s to the present.
Director: Xiaoshuai Wang | Stars: Jingchun Wang, Mei Yong, Xi Qi, Roy Wang
Votes: 5,277
8. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
PG-13 | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A young Chinese warrior steals a sword from a famed swordsman and then escapes into a world of romantic adventure with a mysterious man in the frontier of the nation.
Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Ziyi Zhang, Chang Chen
Votes: 281,603 | Gross: $128.08M
9. Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
PG | 125 min | Drama, Romance
China in the 1920s. After her father's death, Songlian is forced to marry the wealthy Master Chen. With three wives already, each living in a separate house, there is fierce competition for his attention and the privileges that are gained.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Gong Li, Jingwu Ma, Saifei He, Cuifen Cao
Votes: 35,337 | Gross: $2.60M
10. A Time to Live and a Time to Die (1985)
Not Rated | 138 min | Biography, Drama
The semi-autobiographical film on director Hou Hsiao-Hsien's childhood and adolescence, when he was growing up in Taiwan, living through the deaths of his father, mother and grandmother.
Director: Hsiao-Hsien Hou | Stars: Chia-bao Chang, Neng Chang, Chih-Chen Chen, Han-wen Chen
Votes: 3,514
11. Shen nu (1934)
TV-PG | 85 min | Drama
Street walker by night, devoted mother by day, a woman fights to get her young son an education amid criminal and social injustice in China.
Director: Yonggang Wu | Stars: Lingyu Ruan, Tian Jian, Zhizhi Zhang, Keng Li
Votes: 2,472
12. Still Life (2006)
Unrated | 111 min | Drama
A town in Fengjie county is gradually being demolished and flooded to make way for the Three Gorges Dam. A man and woman visit the town to locate their estranged spouses, and become witness to the societal changes.
Director: Zhangke Jia | Stars: Tao Zhao, Zhou Lan, Sanming Han, Lizhen Ma
Votes: 7,303 | Gross: $0.07M
13. Red Sorghum (1988)
Not Rated | 91 min | Drama, History, Romance
When a leprous winery owner in 1930s China dies a few days after his arranged marriage, his young widow is forced to run the winery to make a living while contending with bandits, her drunkard lover, and the invading Japanese army.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Gong Li, Wen Jiang, Rujun Teng, Ji Liu
Votes: 9,872
14. A Touch of Sin (2013)
Not Rated | 130 min | Crime, Drama
Four independent stories set in modern China about random acts of violence.
Director: Zhangke Jia | Stars: Wu Jiang, Baoqiang Wang, Tao Zhao, Lanshan Luo
Votes: 12,888 | Gross: $0.09M
16. A City of Sadness (1989)
157 min | Drama, History
The story of a family embroiled in the "White Terror" that was wrought on the Taiwanese people by the Kuomintang government after their arrival from mainland China in the late 1940s.
Director: Hsiao-Hsien Hou | Stars: Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Shu-Fen Hsin, Sung-Young Chen, Jack Kao
Votes: 6,099
17. Street Angel (1937)
91 min | Comedy, Drama
In old Shanghai, two sisters, a prostitute and a singer, tried to escape from the local scoundrels with the help of a trumpet player and a newspaper seller.
Director: Muzhi Yuan | Stars: Dan Zhao, Heling Wei, Xuan Zhou, Jiting Wang
Votes: 945
19. Center Stage (1991)
126 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Biopic of 1930s Chinese actress Lingyu Ruan.
Director: Stanley Kwan | Stars: Maggie Cheung, Han Chin, Tony Ka Fai Leung, Carina Lau
Votes: 2,722
21. Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (2002)
551 min | Documentary
The impact of the decline of heavy industry on workers and their families in the Tiexi district of Shenyang, China, at the turn of the 21st century, documented unflinchingly by a fly-on-the-wall camera.
Director: Wang Bing
Votes: 1,325
22. The Wayward Cloud (2005)
Not Rated | 112 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
Hsiao-Kang, now working as a pornographic actor, meets Shiang-chyi once again. Meanwhile, the city of Taipei faces a water shortage that makes the sales of watermelons skyrocket.
Director: Tsai Ming-liang | Stars: Kang-sheng Lee, Shiang-chyi Chen, Yi-ching Lu, Kuei-Mei Yang
Votes: 5,636
23. House of Flying Daggers (2004)
PG-13 | 119 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A romantic police captain breaks a beautiful member of a rebel group out of prison to help her rejoin her fellows, but things are not what they seem.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Ziyi Zhang, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau, Dandan Song
Votes: 116,254 | Gross: $11.05M
24. Suzhou River (2000)
83 min | Drama, Romance
After getting out of prison, small-time crook Mardar stumbles upon a woman who looks exactly like his long-lost lover.
Director: Ye Lou | Stars: Xun Zhou, Hongsheng Jia, Zhongkai Hua, Anlian Yao
Votes: 6,423 | Gross: $0.10M
25. What Time Is It There? (2001)
Not Rated | 116 min | Drama, Romance
A watch salesman meets a young woman soon leaving for Paris and becomes infatuated, so he begins to change all the clocks in Taipei to Paris time.
Director: Tsai Ming-liang | Stars: Kang-sheng Lee, Shiang-chyi Chen, Yi-ching Lu, Miao Tien
Votes: 5,321 | Gross: $0.19M
26. Rouge (1987)
Not Rated | 93 min | Drama, Fantasy, Music
Fleur is the blue angel in one of Hong Kong's "flower houses" - bordellos and night clubs of the 1930s. A detached and beautiful performer, she falls in love with Twelfth Master Chan, heir ... See full summary »
Director: Stanley Kwan | Stars: Leslie Cheung, Anita Mui, Alex Man, Emily Chu
Votes: 3,429
27. Tianming (1933)
116 min | Drama
Fishing village girl Ling Ling sets off to look for her cousin in Shanghai. She soon finds out that Shanghai is a city full of vice: she is raped, sold into prostitution, and later becomes ... See full summary »
Director: Yu Sun | Stars: Zhanfei Gao, Langen Han, Li-li Li, Jiqun Liu
Votes: 176
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