This is the story of 19 year old Songlian whose family is left bankrupt after the death of her father. She is forced to marry into the wealthy family Chen and becomes the fourth wife (third mistress) to her husband who is never clearly seen. His first wife is very old and they already have a child together and she doesn't get much attention because of the competition with the 3 other mistresses. She learns that her husband decides who he is spending the night with every day and that person gets special treatment and the most attention from the servants. Since she is the newest wife as well as the youngest one she is the one getting the best treatment and all the attention from the servants. She learns that the seconds mistress is jealous of her and she is very manipulative and the third mistress is having an affair with the family doctor. Songlian fakes a pregnancy in order to get more attention from the husband but is later found to be lying by her servant who Songlian accuses of being in love with the master. The servant gets punished and dies and the third wife is found to be having an affair with the physician and is hanged. By this time Songlian is tired of looking for validation form her husband and decides that solitude is the best thing for her. After witnessing so many things and the homicide of the third wife as the last straw she views suicide as an option but doesn't go through with it. After some time and the marriage of the master to yet another wife she goes insane and is shown to be walking around the house dressed as a school girl.
One of the theme of the movie is betrayal, the betrayal of one of the wives for cheating as well as among one another. Another theme is competition and injustice with is seen across the movie with how the wives are viewed as more desirable when young but put aside as they age.
I liked this movie, it gave me something to look forward to but the ending was sad.
Lan Yu is the tragic love story between a struggling architecture student (Lan Yu) and a successful businessman (Chen). Lan Yu goes home with Chen who is used to meeting young men and paying them for the night. For Lan Yu it was more than an experience for the money and starts developing feelings for Chen. Chen also starts getting feelings for him but lets him know that they will only do that for as long as it feels right for them and once it doesn't they will stop. They see each other a lot for an extended period of time and Chen even buys him a car as well as a villa for Lan Yu who is really not interested in the money buy accepts all the gifts since he is still in school and needs it. Chen feels like he needs to get married and after meeting a woman that seems perfect to be his wife he lets Lan Yu know that he will get married and they have to stop seeing each other. Lan Yu is heartbroken by the news but accepts them. A few years later and Chen gets divorced since he couldn't be happy with his wife, he sees Lan Yu and they decide to rekindle their love. Lan Yu has already become an architect and is successful. They start seeing each other again but Lan Yu lets Chen know that he is planning on moving to the U.S to go to school. In the middle of this Chen is arrested because of the way he has been running his business and ends up in jail, all of his finances are frozen and there is no way to get him out unless he pays $1,000,000(Chinese currency I assume) for a deal he is offered. His family doesn't have the money but Lan Yu offers to help by giving him all of his savings and selling the villa he had bought for him years ago. Chen accepts this and he is freed but Lan Yu doesn't leave for the U.S and instead they start seeing each other as a couple again. They are living happily and one day Lan Yu has a work accident and dies. Chen is heartbroken and the movie ends that way.
The theme of the movie is love as well as loyalty. The love they both had at the beginning was true and because of the idea that Chen had that he must have a family he gave it up but was able to have it once again even though for a short period of time, and it was still there even though many years passed. The other theme was the loyalty Lan Yu had for Chen and how he helped him even though he didn't need to because he remembered that he was there when he needed him first.
I liked this movie a lot, even though their love was taboo it came off as real and pure and the actors did a great job at portraying that.
The movie is about an old bathhouse, which is a traditional spa for men in China. The spa is ran by Old Liu and his son who is mentally challenged Liu Erming. They have a steady clientele who consists of retired workers who spend a big portion of their days in the bathhouse. Liu and Erming provide services such as massages and pedicures and from time to time their customers make crickets fight which they take very seriously. One day his oldest son Liu Daming shows up to the bathhouse after receiving a picture his young brother had sent him and he came thinking his dad had passed away. During the time that he is there he gets to witness the bond that his dad and his brother have over the business and how they enjoy every minute of it, to the extend that it has become their lives and the customers their family. Daming plans to quickly return home to his wife and job but stays for a couple days longer due to some inconveniences. One day Old Liu passes away while taking a shower and Erming doesn't know how to take the news and wants to keep doing what his dad would do. Daming not knowing what to do and scared of his wife's reaction if he would bring his brother home he decides to take him to a mental facility where he leaves him but quickly returns for him and takes him back to the bathhouse. At this same time the bathhouse is to be demolished since a new mall will be opened in that area. The movie ends with the brothers and the customers visiting the bathhouse one last time.
One of the theme of the movie is family, the special bond that Liu and his younger son had was unbelievable as well as their passion for running the bathhouse. Another theme was disability, even though Erming didn't know how to do anything he was perfectly capable of helping run the bathhouse when he was there.
At the beginning I was skeptical of the movie but once I saw crickets fighting I knew it was no ordinary bathhouse. The environment was very cozy even though it consisted of mainly inside the bathhouse and watching a lot of older men taking showers almost naked.
Liu Daming
Like the title implies the movie is almost a love story based on the lives of Li Xiao-Jun and Li-Qiao they both move to Hong Kong from the mainland to make it big, without much resources or friends they end up spending a lot of time together and even though they do not realize it until much later they fall in love. Li Xiao wishes to make enough money to bring his girlfriend to the city and marry her and Li-Qiao wishes to becomes rich, the dream which she is already pursuing since she works non-stop and invests in the stock market. They both have a dream which they cannot achieve if they stay together, they are both aware of that and he ends up marrying his sweetheart after becoming a chef in the city and she marries a mob boss and with his help and money becomes an entrepreneur. By this time they have achieved both of their dreams but when together they cannot help but still have feelings for each other and eventually Li Xiao divorces his wife after he confesses cheating and realizes that he is still in love with Li-Qiao. Li-Qiao's husband is on the run and they runaway to NYC where he eventually gets killed after they have both decided to start a family. After almost getting deported Li-Qiao decides to stay in the city. Li Xiao migrated around the same time after his divorce and ends up living in NYC as well doing delivery, just as he started when he first moved to Hong Kong. Fast forward ten years and they are both single and run into each other, they movie ends there but is implied that they end up together since it goes back to the beginning of the movie where we learn that they both moved to the city at the same time and even took the same train, falling asleep back to back.
The themes of the movies are resilience, dreams, love and friendship. With all of the adversity the main characters are faced with they manage to stay positive and focus on their goals which they eventually achieve it even though they are not completely happy with it. Their friendship also led them to a love story that lasted through the years.
I enjoyed watching this movie a lot, even though at the beginning of the movie they do not admit to their love I was hoping they would end up together. I was also taken by the way they had to start all over two times in two different cities and they were willing to in order to keep fighting for their dreams.
This story takes place in the city of Dalian, Zhao an old retired factory worker who is over 50 years old is looking to marry an overweight divorced woman with two children. He tells her he likes that particularity about her so she can keep him warm. The bride wants and expensive wedding and he goes on a hunt for the money to give her the wedding she wants since he would like to get married as soon as possible. During his quest he realizes that he already owes money to his friends and needs to come up with a new plan to make money. Zhao and his friend decide to fix up an old bus where young lovers meet and charge them for their time there. Meanwhile as he is doing this he tell his future bride that he has a hotel with a partner. She has a bratty, spoiled, rude son who is very mean to her blind step-sister. She has the girl in her house doing chores and asks Zhao to take her (Wu Ying) to work in the hotel with him, he is first reluctant but since he wants to make her happy he agrees.
In attempts to keep the non existing hotel a secret he opens up a fake massage place for her to work in with the help of his other retired friends. He finds himself taking care of Wu Ying and loving her as his own daughter, during this time he is not as close to his bride since his priority is Wu Ying. One day he decides to go visit his bride only to find out she has already married another man and basically kicks him out of her apartment and asks for the girl back since her new husband can now take care of all of them. Wu Ying being the smart girl she is notices that he has been lying since the beginning and decides that she doesn't want to be a burden for Zhao any longer and leaves to go look for her dad, she leaves an audio recording letting him know of that. At about this same time Zhao is heart broken and got very drunk and has an accident that leaves him unconscious in the hospital. The movie ends with this inconclusive ending.
The theme of the movie I would say is compassion, dealing with a disability, friendship and love. Zhao looking for love found love but from a person he did not expect and in a way that he did not expect because it was more like a father-daughter relationship that he developed with Wu Ying. Him and his friends coped with Wu Ying's disability the best way possible and made her feel comfortable.
I enjoyed watching this movie, at first I thought it would be more of a laughing comedy and towards the end it was the type that made me cry. It was very heart touching even though the ending surprised me. My favorite part was when his "bride" told Zhao that he is always wearing the same shirt which means that he is no hotel manager and he tells her that is the nicest shirt he has and he wears it for her,
This movie was about a local bad boy/gang member (Wah) who gets the visit of a second cousin (Ngor), he is used to living alone but since she is sick his auntie decided that it would be best for her to stay with him until she got all of the exams she needed. He lives in a big city and she came from the country. While she is staying with him she realizes that his friends are always calling him and looking for him.
He turns out to be a local bad boy who is always in trouble or is always trying to get his friends out of trouble. His best friend picks a fight with the wrong gang and ends up almost dead a few times and Wah always ends up rescuing him. His friend is trying to make it big so he can help his parents back home and anything else is not acceptable for him. Wah strikes up a romance with the cousin after he goes looking for her and she breaks up with her Doctor boyfriend. Ngor is always waiting for him and not knowing if he will come back or not because of the lifestyle he has always rescuing his friends from trouble. Towards the end his friend decides to kill a high profile criminal, since he is unsuccessful Wah ends up finishing the job for him. His friend gets killed and he ends up dead which is the ending I prefer.
The theme of this movie is loyalty and determination. His friend was determined to be someone even if it mean him having to die to get it. The main character remains loyal to his friends even though he screws up a lot of times, he is always there to "save" him.
I enjoyed watching this movie, it was sad but I think it mirrors the life of many people who move to a big city and try to make it big. This particular character chooses the wrong way of getting recognition but usually when people move to another city they will try everything until they have made a name for themselves.
Touch of the Light is a movie about Siang, a blind pianist who plays himself in the movie. The movie starts in the country where Siang is getting ready leave, he is with his little sister and his mom who accompanies him to university to settle down. He had so far grown up in a rural area where his family made their best attempt to made him feel comfortable despite of his disability, he had learned to beautifully play the piano and that was what he would study. Once the got to the city he ran into some difficulties with other students who weren't as understanding about his disability and were not willing to help him get around the school campus. Siang's roommate is a wild musician who never saw Siang differently and they clicked right away. Together with some other of their friends they form a band and their goal is to play at a festival. While all of this is happening Siang first hears the voice of Jie while she is delivering cold drinks in his school campus and says that he likes it. Jie is a delivery girl for a local tea shop and is always around campus making deliveries, she dreams to become a dancer but because of the things around her life it makes it difficult for her to make that decision. Siang eventually runs into Jie when he was attempting to go to a nearby school to help other kids who have a disability and gets confused when crossing the street and she helps him. They instantly become friends and start hanging out together. Jie becomes encouraged by Siang's story and decides to go try out her dream and go an audition to another city, with the help of her boss who lends her the money to travel. While Siang and his friends have decided to go a festival and play their music, last minute they go to an audition so Siang can play the piano and they accompany him as a band playing other instruments. Going to that audition was his dream and his friends helped him with it.
The theme of the movie was courage as well as the passion Siang had to follow his dream and how he never gave up no matter what the obstacles were. That courage and passion is shared as well as learned from his colleagues.
I enjoyed watching this movie and see how the main character faced all of the challenges he was faced with. It was especially emotional because the story that was being portrayed had happened to the actor in real life.
jie
Shanghai Triad takes place in the course of & days, a young boy (Tang Shuisheng) from the country moves to the city with his uncle to start working. His uncle tells him that this way one day he will be someone, his job is to serve the "mafia's" boss mistress (his name also Tang) and her name Xiao Jinbao. Xiao can be described as a brat who is used to getting her way because of her position, she is always nicely dress and can be mean to people. Right after they arrive to the city there is a fight and someone dies, his uncle is involved in it.
The only reason why he was chosen was because of his family name, it was the same as Tang and therefore it meant that they were related. Xiao has her doubts about the kid but she accepts him and tells him that he will learn. After her show, since she is also the singer for the club that Tang owns he goes home with her and is given a room where he will stay unless she needs him. While living in her house he learns that she is having an affair with Tang's right hand man Song. It is implied that Tang has no time for her since he is always busy with his business and that has given her the liberty/time to look for a lover. In the next few days Song breaks up with her and she goes crazy by breaking everything in her room. All of this time Tang has just tried to adjust to the new living and how she wants things done. There is also a fight between gangs and Tang's uncle dies defending the boss as well as a lot of his other men. Tang got wounded but because of Tang Shuisheng who defended him he didn't die, Tang promises him that they will find who did that and avenge his death.
After that Tang's men wake Xiao and Tang Shuisheng in the middle of the night to tell them that they are moving to a island close to the city because the other gang's member are looking for the boss and he needs to hide so they won't kill him and no one shall know where they are going because they can't trust anyone. When they arrive to the island they are told that the only two people there are widow and her daughter, no one shall go to the island without Tang's approval and knowledge. Xiao befriends Cuihua who is the widow and Xiao starts asking about her business which leads to her boyfriend getting killed since the was not supposed to be going in the island without Tang's knowledge. By this time Xiao is getting better along with Tang Shuisheng and starts liking Cuihua's daugher Ajiao who tells Xiao she wants to be like her when she grows up.
On the last day Song arrives to the island with another of the boss's main man. At this time Xiao's infidelity is made known, letting her know that they knew about it since it started and knowing that now Song will be killed. But before this Tang S arrives to the boss's cabin to let him know that he overheard a conversation and some men were planning to kill Xiao. Song is killed and soon after so is Xiao, Tung S tries to defend her but he is held back. Xiao asks for the boss to please leave the widow and the little girl alone but the movie ends with them leaving on a boat with the little girl who will be the next Xiao and Tang S who is being hanged upside down because of what he did. The boss took Tang S back because of his loyalty and also because his uncle had saved him from being killed.
The theme of the movie is power and loyalty. The power the boss has makes him do as he wishes, like having Xiao as a mistress and killing people who are not loyal to him. Towards the end Xiao also comes off as more humble and human when she shares that she also comes from the country and befriends the little kids.
This has been my favorite movie so far, I enjoyed how towards the end Xiao changed from her previous behaviors and learned to like the kids and the current environment she was currently living in. I did not like the part where the little girl was taken back to the city to probably be the next Xiao once she becomes older. The scenery in the movie was also breathtaking and I really enjoyed watching it.
Dragon Inn takes place somewhere in the desert, the defense minister Yang Yu-xuan is killed along with his family by the malicious "minister" Tsao who is an eunuch, after killing him he decides to spare the life of is two young children in order to catch general Chow who was an ally to Yang Yu-xuan.
Consecutively, when the soldiers that are with Tsao realize that he did not go to rescue the kids and instead a woman (Mo-yan) posing as a man did they decide to follow them to the Dragon Inn where they will stay until they cross the border.
Eventually Chow comes to the Inn and reunites with Mo, the kids and other soldiers travelling with them, around the same time other people who are trying to kill them also arrive at the Inn and they have a few fights. Meanwhile, the kids are in hiding in one of the rooms and Chow asks Jade(the owner of the dragon inn) to help them leave through her secret passage. Jade takes every opportunity to either get money or get what she wants and agrees to help them only if he sleeps with her. Chow being a man of principle says he will not sleep with her but agrees to marry her instead, meanwhile hurting Mo who he obviously has feeling for and its mutual. The bad weather keeps them from leaving and Jade only wants to sleep with him before helping him out. Eventually Tsao arrives with his men and since a lot of people have died only Chow, Mo, Jade, her cook and the children escape through her secret passage only to fight them afterwards. During the battle Chow, Mo, Jade and the cook fight soldiers as well as Tsao and end up killing him. They go back to the Inn to burn it and cross the border after to reunite with Chow, the kids and Mo.
The theme of the movie was loyalty, honor, greed and love.
I found the movie confusing, everything happened too fast and a lot of characters were introduced at once and I lost track of who was who. The subtitles were also fast and it was a little difficult keeping up. It was also very fictional with all the actors flying around all the time and towards the end Tsao not dying even though he had no leg or arm and he was still fighting.
However, my favorite character was Jade, even though she killed people and fed them to her guests she always made it clear that the most important thing for her was money and that is where her loyalty resided. Towards the end I feel like she fell in love and she tried to help Chow and that was also the main reason for her to destroy her hotel and join them. She made the movie be more enjoyable and at the end decided to join the "good guys" and leave her life of killing and hooking up with powerful guests behind.
Not One Less takes place in a school setting on a remote village. The only teacher the school has(Gao), who teaches all the grades has to leave the school for a couple of months because his mother is very sick and the major brings a middle school student ( Wei Minzho) to sub for him. At first Gao is very skeptical of what she can do but he has no choice but to trust her and asks her to please not let one more students leave since 10 had already left and when he comes back he will compensate her. At the beginning she has trouble leading the class and her students have trouble following along, one day a very serious challenge arises and this brings them all together. One of her students (Zhang Huike) leaves to go to the city where will work to help his mother pay off some debt. Wei and her students try to make money so she can take the bus to the city find Zhang and bring him back, they have a few failed attempts and she decides to walk to the city. Once there she finds the place where Zhang is supposed to be staying at but realizes he got lost once he arrived to the city. With almost no money but lots of will power Wei takes on the journey to find Zhang, with many unsuccessful attempts to find him on her own as a last resort she decides to ask the local TV station for help. Once there, the receptionist gives her a hard time speaking to the station manager and she decides to stay outside and ask every guy with his the one characteristic she knows about him if he is the station manager. The station manager eventually hears that she had been sleeping/staying outside the station waiting for him and decides to help her. Since Wei has no money for an ad the station manager makes her have an interview so she can ask the viewers to help her find Zhang. This was a very emotional interview for her and once it aired the owner of the restaurant where Zhang had been staying at watches it and lets Zhang know what they are looking for him. Wei and Zhang go back to the village with the news crew, once there they give another interview and with the help of people who watched the piece they are able to collect enough money to help Zhang's mother pay off her debt. They also received a lot of donations with school supplies. The movie ends with Wei and her students in her classroom using some of the new material they got and talking about their recent experience.
In my opinion this movie has many themes, one of the is the courage that Wei displays as she decides to get her student back no matter what, she goes to look for him without any money and then does not take no for an answer when she knew someone was in the position to help her. Another theme is the poverty in which this students live which causes some of the students to live in the school since their homes are too far for them to go back and forth everyday and they do not have transportation. The same poverty also shown when Zhang who is only a kid has to go work to help his mother.
I enjoyed this movie a lot, I think the way it was made really made the audience connect with the characters with them being real people and not professional actors. At the beginning of the movie they march and raise the flag, I grew up in S. America and we used to do this every Monday as well as sing the national anthem, just like in the movie. That part reminded me of back home.
