Favorite Chinese Movies ^_^

One of my all-time favs is Chungking Express (重慶森林). It's a classic and must see. Don't let the first story (there are 2 in the movie) scare you - there is a bit of violence, and you may find it a bit strange (that's director Wong Kar-Wai for you!). You will find your romance in the 2nd story (one of the best romances ever filmed). Did I mention that Wong Faye is incredibly adorable in this movie?! I think I will always be in love with her...

Hey, moloch! Great to see you again! You really liked Beijing Rocks? I saw it last week (own it actually), and while I like the leads, the movie itself didn't do much. Now "The Banquet," THAT was an awesome movie!

You'll probably enjoy Suzhou River.

Yes yes yes, "In the Mood for Love" (花样年华 huayang nianhua/fa yeung nin wa) is probably my all-time favourite movie, it's fantastic in every aspect. Not only did it make me move to China for a year, thinking I would somehow miracously turn into Maggie Cheung as soon as I entered the airport, spending my time flirting with Tony Leung and wearing fantastic qipao's while buying noodle's in a thermos. Well that didn't happen (suprise), and I later found out the movie is actually shot in Bangkok since China doesn't look that way any more. It also made me a big fan of 30's Shanghai swing/jazz music, which is a big part of the soundtrack. This is also very possibly the finest, most subtle romance ever to be captured on film. You simply MUST see it!

Not One Less （一個都不能少）

Yes, "Not one less" is a great movie! Although the ending is a bit cheesy, in a "Hollywood ending" kind of way, but since you like cheesy, that should be no problem :-) Another movie (well actually, a television series) that i liked very much is "中国式离婚", but it's not a very happy movie, as it's about divorce the Chinese way..

"Eat, Drink, Man, Woman" is one of Ang Lee's first films. It is set in Taipei and it has so many good things going on: humor, romance, drama, and endless shots of mouth watering food!

There's also a film called "Together" which you should get your hands on. Worth watching!

Frank you already mentioned that above. ;) It is actually called "Together With You", that the nearest I can find. I've added all the above to my rental list. :)

Bazza, it was good enough to list twice. :-D

And of course there's "In the Mood for Love," its sequel "2046", "Together," and the ever-popular and tear-jerking "The Road Home." Enjoy!

Though I suspect this 1993 film is rather dated, I liked Ang Lee's "The Wedding Banquet" (喜宴 Xǐyàn), my introduction the "triple-happiness" [sic] character as representative of a wedding of convenience for a New York gay couple and a Mainland Chinese bride (the groom placates his traditional Taiwanese parents; the bride gets her Green Card).

I recently viewed, King of Masks. Sorry I don't know the chinese title. excellent film, also Electric shadows. Both were great.

Another Ang Lee film, Eat Drink Man Woman (饮食男女 or 飲食男女), came out around the same time as "The Wedding Banquet". It is set in Taiwan and, though mostly in Mandarin has a little Taiwanese thrown in; might be a good fit. Make me a third on "In the Mood for Love".

Can one assume that you've already seen the blockbusters "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Hero?"

I liked House of Flying Daggers (十面埋伏). The beauty of the scenery and sets was great, and so was the intensity of emotions.

太好了!!! I'm definetly going to be busy for a while! All of these have been added to my list. ^_^ Brooke, PPLive is AWESOME!!! ( I even watched Xiang_Sheng for a while. I didn't catch any of the jokes, but o well- more motivation for my Chinesepod addiction, right?) Anyway...谢谢你们!

Right on, "Wedding Banquet" was really good too... many of his recent films have been extremely popular, however the first few films by 李安 remained under the radar probably due to them being non-English... nonetheless they are solid and original. "Hero" was 张艺谋 (Zhange Yimou). He's done several other fantastic Chinese Epic's... "Raise the Red Lantern", "To Live", "JuDou"...check 'em all out.

I really liked 'A Time to Love'.. maybe just because I like Zhao Wei a lot. Two other favourites: Beijing Rocks, and Where Have All the Flowers Gone

I have two recommendations. Since you're in the states, you may check out some of the Disney DVDs and see if they have Mandarin audio tracks. Some do - Mulan comes to mind - and of course several Disney stories have cheesy romances involved. :- ) My other suggestion would be to download the infamous PPLive program from http://www.pplive.com/zh-cn/download.html . The site is all in Chinese, but based on the links, I chose the green button and installed it. Once the program is installed (you can choose English during the process), you will have access to hundreds of Chinese channels and programs that are difficult if not impossible to get here in the states. Everything from game shows to cartoons to movies to comedy (e.g. Xiang Sheng, which I love). Hope this helps! Good luck on your studies!