The Left Ear; 左耳, My Kingdom; 大武生

Introducing two interesting movies released in 2015 and 2011. Both by interlopers.
The Left Ear is the directorial debut by a pop idol from the 90s and My Kingdom was directed by a critically important writer of campus ballads, a unique Chinese sub-culture. What's more? Both men were once engineering majors at top universities before quitting to pursue art full-time.
These two films, void of affectatious display of technicality, are surprisingly refreshing in story-telling.
Both are coming of age films really. The Left Ear took place in modern day small city China in the highly pressurized window of pre-annual national college entrance exam. My Kingdom took place in concessionary Shanghai from the end of Qing dynasty to the republic era where traditional Peking opera troupe performers were pulled into adventures, tragedies and betrayals only previously experienced in their repertoire.
Beginner's luck didn't favor many other equally talented first-time interlopers. 栀子花开, by variety show host 何炅, was plain miserable. The two protagonists were major miscasts to say the very least. Never mind that diversion. Please enjoy the two recommendations.

With Chinese subtitles:
The Left Ear, directed by 苏有朋.
My Kingdom, directed by 高晓松.

Go La La Go！ 杜拉拉升职记

China is urbanizing fast and Du Lala is the archetypical new-age urban white collar. She is educated, diligent, creative, outspoken and silly. She is part of the new generic breed of global urban female!
Go La La Go! is a fun-filled yuppie comedy released in 2010. The fourth film by director Xu Jinglei (徐静蕾), a lovely bluestocking who was an actor trained at Beijing Film Academy. She also stars in the film.

Enjoy the film.

Once a Thief; 纵横四海

One of Hong Kong director John Woo's early and best works before he moved to Hollywood, Once a Thief is a rare comedy that blended his trademark aesthetic violence thoroughly with amazing story-telling. 
Three orphans were adopted by a local kingpin. Along food and shelter, they were taught to steal. By the time they reached young adulthood, the trio had become so skilled at the craft that they were essential in the intricate web of global art theft and insurance fraud. Their "jobs" took them to museums and castles all over Europe. From the seaside of Cannes to the the palatial private wine cellar, the visuals of this film is simply spectacular.
You can just imagine how John Woo shows off his famed choreographed gun battle and martial arts sequence, some of the best ever made anywhere. Wicked sense of humor permeates through the screen as the characters banter, tease, dance, scheme and fight.
Starring four best representatives (the art thieves plus their godfather) of Hong Kong cinema's golden era Chow Yun Fat (Zhou Runfa, 周润发)  Cherie Chung (Zhong Chuhong, 钟楚红)  Leslie Cheung (Zhang Guorong, 张国荣), and Kenneth Tsang (Zeng Jiang, 曾江)
Enjoy the film.

Quitting; 昨天

July 5th marks the fifth anniversary of mainland actor Jia Hongsheng (贾宏声)'s death. For a classically trained actor (Gong Li, of Farewell My Concubine and Shanghai Triad fame, was his college classmate at the Central Academy of Dramatic Arts), he rose to the stature of teen idol while still in school then quickly vanished not long after college. For years, his drug use was not a secret among his circle. Every now and then he would make a memorable performance, and one of his last, Quitting, has drawn him quite a posthumous cult following. 
Quitting is a rare film in Chinese cinema and I dare say there won't be another like this. It's a movie that's completely based on true story that occurred six to seven years prior with scenes reenacted by the protagonist himself. The gut-wrenching plot centered on how Jia's naive but steadfastly devoted parents arrived in Beijing to help him rebuild his life after rehab and in the process discovered what a total stranger their son has become. Jia's own arc, which included detailed narratives of his experience with drug use, made this movie more real than a documentary. 
Can't really imagine how difficult it was for a recovering addict to reenact his past. Jia, however, made this film under the pretense that he has recovered and perhaps can make a comeback. 
But he never did. He grew increasingly detached from the rest of the world till his early demise in 2010. 
The movie smacks Beijing in the 1990s, not so long ago yet so distant looking, which is in itself quite precious to look at. 

Enjoy the movie.

Please Vote for Me; 请投我一票

Please Vote for Me is a documentary that followed a group of eight-year pupils as they run for the class monitor position in an elementary school in Wuhan, Hubei.
Perhaps surprising to most Americans, in China, democratic election processes at elementary school level are quite common. It was so dating back at least 25-30 years ago when I was in elementary school. Not every name can end up on the ballot. You have to indicate an interest to run. Teachers do tend to flush out potential candidates who fail to embody desirable qualities such as good academic standing, willingness to help the elderly and fellow classmates and decent athletic capability. In most elementary schools, each class (the entering class of 2015 for example) is divided into several sub-groups with each occupying one classroom. Students do not travel from classroom to classroom. Instead, teachers go to different classrooms to instruct. Each sub-group elects its own class monitor.
In the past, fellow pupils used to vote mostly based on the speech each candidate delivers, plus the personal assessment of course. With increasing commercialism, the voting process as evidenced in this documentary has become much more competitive and sometimes downright chilling.
There seems to be less merit-based screening up front. Competition occasionally digresses into the arena of talent show and popularity contest. In order to achieve their goals, third-graders quickly learn to canvass, bribe, barnstorm and slander, leaving not much in imagination.

With English subtitles and dialogue in Mandarin. Enjoy the documentary.

Farewell My Concubine; 霸王别姬

This blog post is dedicated to the memory of Leslie Cheung, who left us this month twelve years ago.
The English title "Farewell My Concubine" is a literal translation that can't possibly capture the beautiful tragedy in history known to everyone in China as "霸王别姬". 
The movie follows the poignant lives of two young trainees as they go through brutal Peking opera schooling that included unimaginable physical as well as psychological torture; enjoy fleeting moments of fame during warring years and suffer endless humiliations in various ideological purging that culminated into the horrific Cultural Revolution. 
The Cultural revolution, homosexuality and prostitution remain heavy subjects in mainland movies. Farewell blatantly and relentlessly touched all three. 
This movie won the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival in 1993, becoming the first Chinese film to win the award and remains the only Chinese-language film to have won the award. Farewell also won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film as well as being nominated for two Academy Awards. Director Chen Kaige (陈凯歌) remains a leading figure in Asian cinema today.
In an amazing twist of fate, this much acclaimed film was snubbed by the award scenes of mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan at the time but has become an well-accepted classic with devoted cult audience.
Leslie Cheung's portrayal of the gender-bending protagonist Chen Dieyi (程蝶衣) is simply unsurpassable and without whom the movie wouldn't have existed in the first place. 
From a teen idol to Hong Kong's favorite entertainer, Leslie had by early 90s grown into a well-crafted and meticulously detail-oriented actor. 
This movie should be available even in your local library.

Attitude; 态度

Privately-funded sports-themed documentaries are rare in Asia. Taiwan's Attitude, made in 2008 is one of the few.
Attitude followed the basketball team called Taipi (台啤), short for for Taiwan Beer, (team was sponsored by a Taiwanese tobacco and beverages tycoon), a Taiwan Super Basketball League (SBL) member. Threatened to be disbanded over years of losing streak, the team dealt with issues, toughened up with relentless training, went through heartbreak and loss of life and in the end rallied up to exemplary results.
Frankly it is just plain refreshing to watch bunch of Asian guys not poring over math!
The director Leo Liao (廖人帅), an often overly enthusiastic Taiwanese entertainer with hair color loud enough to rival the feather coat of a peacock, was only 24 at the time. 
Before "Linsanity", there was Attitude.

Chinese subtitles; Enjoy the movie.