Back in the 1980s and 90s, Zhang Yimou (Ju Dou, Raise the Red Lantern) was acclaimed as one of the most talented directors to emerge from China’s “fifth generation”, film-makers whose work broke with the socialist realist style of their predecessors. While still working within the establishment industry, the fifth generation – including Chen Kaige and Tian Zhuangzhuang – were considered to varying degrees if not quite dissident, at least somewhat heterodox and anti-authoritarian. Either way, having started out as a cinematographer, Zhang quickly became an arthouse darling abroad, feted…
Tag: Action and adventure films
Dongji Rescue review – epic tale of British PoWs saved by Chinese fishers gets blockbuster treatment
The sinking of the Lisbon Maru, an extraordinary second world war story in which 384 British PoWs were saved from a bombed Japanese cargo liner by Chinese fishers, has recently been excavated in an exhaustive, emotional documentary. In Dongji Rescue, co-directed by Zhenxiang Fei and Guan Hu, this staggering tale gets a blockbuster makeover that involves Imax cameras and an $80m budget. The film opens with the stunning vista of the eponymous island, then under Japanese control. The seeds of discontent are there, as the local Chinese population are forbidden…
The Prosecutor review – Donnie Yen leads mashup of legal drama and action flick
Developed by China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate and directed by butt-kicking luminary Donnie Yen, The Prosecutor is a bizarre mashup of courtroom procedural and action flick; it is just as keen on lionising due process and the “shining light” of Chinese justice as it is on reducing civic infrastructure to smithereens in several standout bouts. But Yen, who looks undeniably good in a suit, is more convincing on his habitual fisticuff grounds than the jurisprudential ones. Yen plays Fok, a one-time hotshot cop who – leaving the force after some over-zealous…
Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms review – immortals and armies wreak havoc
“Strange things keep happening these days,” muses Jiang Ziya (Bo Huang) halfway through this extravagant adaptation of Xu Zhonglin’s 16th-century myth-and-fantasy novel Investiture of the Gods. By this point, we’ve already seen a woman kill herself with a hatpin before being possessed by the spirit of a white fox; a gurgling, pistachio-coloured demon baby is found naked in the woods; and a conjuror who can make his head float free of his body when threatened with decapitation. Strange days indeed. Ziya is one of three immortals sent to arrest the…
Sakra review – Donnie Yen gets stuck in with fear and swordplay in the Song dynasty
It’s hard to square martial arts main man Donnie Yen’s increasing entanglement with the Chinese Communist party with the concern for China’s ethnic minorities on show in his first directorial effort for 20 years. Playing Qiao Feng, top dog of the ragamuffin Beggars’ Gang during the Song dynasty, he finds out that his parents were in fact hairy Khitan nomads from the steppes. With the scenes of Khitan refugees being mistreated by callous military goons, you can’t help but think of the plight of the Uyghurs. Things don’t look good…
Born to Fly review – Chinese Top Gun puts tech propaganda in the frontline
The pilots in this so-called Chinese Top Gun are mostly top in the sense that they are in selfless support of China’s frontline troops thanks to the emerging technological superiority of the People’s Republic (which would have made for a less snappy title). Another in China’s seemingly never-ending line of propagandistic, government-backed action films, this is only distinguished in dunderheaded patriotism from its American 80s and 90s equivalents by its absence of any functioning sense of humour. It’s about the country’s next-generation fighter pilots, but the plot is last-generation: promising…
Gay references removed from Fantastic Beasts 3 for Chinese release
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore has been edited for release in China to ensure any gay references have been removed. The fantasy sequel, which has an estimated budget of $200m, contains allusions to a romantic history between the characters of Dumbledore and Grindelwald, played by Jude Law and Mads Mikkelsen respectively. Six seconds of dialogue, including the lines “Because I was in love with you” and “The summer Gellert and I fell in love”, were taken out for the Chinese release on 8 April. “As a studio, we’re committed…