Excellent Chinese movie must see: TO LIVE

[Sequoia]

I checked this video out from the library because I love Chinese movies and the beautiful Gong Li was in it whom I'd seen in Ju Dou and Raise the Red Lantern. The director, Zhang Yimou, also directed these two movies. I was just spellbound and now I find out it's adapated from the book (must read it now)by the same name. As usual, it's a tear jerker so have tissues handy. Here's a review:

One of the best films of 1994, To Live is a bold, energetic masterpiece from Zhang Yimou, the foremost director from China's influential "fifth generation" of filmmakers. Continuing his brilliant collaboration with China's best-known actress Gong Li (their previous films include Ju Dou and Raise the Red Lantern), Zhang weaves an ambitious tapestry of personal and political events, following the struggles of an impoverished husband and wife (Ge You, Gong Li) from their heyday in the 1940s to the hardships that accompanied the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s. They raise two children amidst a Communist regime, surviving numerous setbacks and yet managing, somehow, to live. Both intimate and epic, Zhang's film encompasses the simplest and most profound realities of Chinese life during this controversial period, and for their honesty, Zhang and Gong Li faced a two-year ban on future collaborations. To Live is a testament to their art, transcending politics to celebrate the tenacity of ordinary people in the wake of turbulent history. --Jeff Shannon --This text refers to the DVD edition.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0792899180/103-6763656-9331047?v=glance

[w8liftinglady]

1. have you seen "King of Masks"?

It is my favorite chinese movie
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0767847377/qid=1133911332/sr=11-1/ref=sr_11_1/104-4834239-8990304?n=130


The King of Masks tells a tale steeped in ancient tradition, simultaneously challenging the sociosexual inequity still plaguing China today. On the streets of Szechuan Province in the 1930s, the aged King of Masks, sole living master of "change-face" opera, delights and frightens audiences with the secret art of lightning-quick mask-shifting. His fondest wish is to pass on his skill to a male heir before he dies. Famous female impersonator Liang Sao Lang craves knowledge of the king's secret technique, offering to relieve the old man's poverty by taking him into his opera troupe. The king declines: what sort of heir would this half-female creature make? Instead, he buys an orphan on the black market, joyously showing him off as his grandson and heir. But soon the child is forced to disclose a dreaded secret--one that effectively renders him a person of no value according to Chinese custom. In the king's eyes, the kid goes from "beloved grandson" to "stupid crook," and both the old man and the child must pay dearly for his bigotry before they can know joy again. A deeply moving film, simply told and superbly acted. --Laura Mirsky

[Sequoia]

3. Ah, Yes!

Another classic.

[NewJeffCT]

5. That was a good movie

I had watery eyes watching that one.

[Tempest]

2. Have you seen "Xui Xui, The Sent Down Girl"?

Another great Chinese made movie.

[Sequoia]

4. No, but I will look for it. Thanks.

[Tempest]

6. The only place I could find a copy was on eBay

No one else was carrying it, not even Amazon.

[Squatch]

7. Oooh...and "Kung Fu Hustle"

Freaking great!