Movie Recommendations

Shun

状元
Hi everyone,

it's a well-known fact that watching Chinese-language movies and remembering words and phrases is a great way to further develop one's Chinese. I'd like to recommend "The Wedding Banquet" («喜宴», 1993). It's part of the "Pushing Hands", "Eat Drink Man Woman", and "The Wedding Banquet" trilogy by Ang Lee. Ang Lee worked with musician Jean Pierre Mader (who emulated the style of traditional Chinese music rather well) to portray a perfect world of intercultural harmony.

To describe the movie a bit, I'm attaching a short movie journal that I wrote. YouTube has various versions with different subtitles, or a university library may have it on DVD with all subtitles.

Happy New Year, Shun
 

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  • The Wedding Banquet Film Journal.pdf
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adamlau

探花
Not a movie, but 'Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy'. Just finished it. Lots of interesting expressions from the royal court to the tribes people. I love royal court roundabout speech. Inferred, subtle...
 

Shun

状元
Thank you very much! I see this is quite a hit right now, with 87 million views on Youku.
 
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acmepost

Member
late to the party, here, but my teacher, originally from Taiwan, recommended the soap opera "Go Ahead" on YouTube. English subtitles, first episode is 43:47 but I haven't had a chance to watch it yet. But she was *so* enthusiastic about it, said she started watching it again.

There are 40-something episodes, I think.
 

Shun

状元
Many thanks! I found it already has millions of views only one month after it was uploaded, and it's got Chinese subtitles behind the English ones. Great camera work, too.
 

synagr

Member
I haven't been able to find a way to watch it, but a very interesting movie about cultural differences is called "The Treatment" (or 刮痧 in Chinese), released in 2001. Another one is "Not One Less", which is about Chinese Education System. My final recommendation, for now, is "To Live" (or 活着), which goes through a lot of the changes that happened since the fall of the Qing Dynasty, including the Chinese Civil War and the Cultural Revolution.
 

Shun

状元
Another poignant movie I'd like to recommend, which also deals with contact between the Chinese and Western cultures, is a Danish picture by director Henrik Ruben Genz called «KINAMAND» (2005) (English "Chinaman") of a fake marriage between a Danish man and a Chinese woman, available on Netflix. There are many places in the movie where clean, nice Mandarin Chinese is spoken, so it’s definitely a bit of useful practice for learners of Chinese, as well.


If you have 88 minutes, it is very easy to watch and definitely a worthwhile thing to see.
 
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