• East Palace/West Palace
• Eastern Condors
• Emperor's Shadow, The
• Ermo
• Executioners, The (Heroic Trio II)

East Palace/West Palace

A Lan is a young gay man who spends most of his evenings in the local park that has become the city's main hangout for gay men... and which, as a result, has become the main place the police patrol, looking to arrest them. After having been let free by a policeman he's fascinated with, he not only sends the cop a signed copy of a book he wrote inscribed "to my love, A Lan" but goes back to the same park, where the same cop apprehends him again. What follows... which is most of the film... is a virtual two-man movie, as the cop forces A Lan to tell all the details of his life... how he discovered his sexuality, what he feels about it, and all the rest... while the cop angrily berates A Lan, clearly confused about what it really is that he feels about him. East Palace/West Palace is an intensely emotional story about love of all kinds, and what the cost can sometimes be... both to ones' self and others... of expressing that love. Of course, it is also to a degree about finding out and learning to accept who you are. It deals with these questions in some surprising ways, and whatever you take away from it, it will be 91 minutes well spent.

Starring Si Han and Ju Hun, directed by Zhang Yuan. (Review written: 6/25/02)

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Eastern Condors

A few years after the end of the Vietnamese war, a huge stash of weapons of mass destruction left behind by American forces is discovered. The U.S. can't send in its own forces, but it can sponsor a kind of Dirty Dozen of Chinese and Vietnamese prisoners to go and bring back the weapons before they fall into enemy hands, or, failing that, destroy them. The team is played by some of Hong Kong's most notable stars, including Sammo Hung (who also directed), Yuen Biao, Lam Ching Ying (taking time off from hunting vampires), behind-the-camera stars Yuen Wo Ping and Corey Yuen (the latter of whom also produced), and Killing Fields star Haing S. Ngor (making this one of the few Hong Kong films to feature the winner of an American Oscar). Eastern Condors has plenty of the gunplay and explosions you'd expect in what is essentially a war movie, but fortunately it doesn't forget the martial arts skills of so many of its cast, and keeps coming up with reasons for folks to throw down the guns and bring on the kung fu. If it's not one of the peak moments in Hong Kong cinema, it's certainly still an action-packed 90 or so minutes that will often leave you gasping in disbelief (not the least of them being what Sammo winds up doing to Joyce Godenzi, his real-life wife). If you're looking for plenty of action, you need go no further. (Review written: 6/25/02)

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The Emperor's Shadow

This is the story of Ying Zheng, China's first emperor, and how he achieved that title after conquering and then uniting all the disparate kingdoms of China. It's also the story of his troubled friendship with Gao Janli, a musician of rare and remarkable talent, and this aspect of the film is what lifts it from the realm of the very good into that of the truly exceptional. After a brief prelude in which we see the characters as children and get to understand how much their friendship meant to them, we flash forward 26 years. Ying is now king of all but three of China's kingdoms, and next on his list to conquer is Yan, because that's where the only person who he feels can possibly compose him the national anthem he deserves lives... Gao. Thing is, Gao is part of the Yan resistance and is fighting against what Ying is trying to accomplish... at least, until he meets and falls in love with Yueyang, Ying's daughter. Then things get REALLY complicated. The Emperor's Shadow gives the viewers the feeling of getting totally lost in one of those long, thousand-page epic Chinese historical novels like Romance Of The Three Kingdoms... in just two hours, it captures all of the epic sweep, complex characters, and fascinating story that those books have, and adds some utterly stunning visuals. Watching these two childhood friends take different paths that put them at each other's throats is an at times wrenching experience, and the film doesn't let you off the hook by letting you "boo" Ying and cheer Gao... that reference to complex characters is the genuine truth. Excellently acted, written, directed and shot, this is actually the kind of movie that Hollywood ONCE knew how to make but seems to have forgotten how long ago. If you think Gladiator is a great historical saga, check out The Emperor's Shadow and you may wind up re-thinking that notion.

Starring Jang Wen, Ge You and Xu Ong. Directed by Zhao Xiaowen. (Review written: 1/6/03)

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Ermo

Ermo lives in a small village in rural China with her husband "Chief" (he was village chief years earlier, and everyone still calls him that) and son, next door to a family who seems to take particular pride in having more than Ermo and her family does. But Ermo is determined to outshine them when she sees the biggest TV she's ever seen displayed in the window of a shop in a nearby city. She's going to sell her blood, make and sell tons more of her famous noodles, and do whatever else she needs to do in order to have not just the only TV in her village other than her neighbors', but one vastly larger (and thus "better"). At first this film seems to be about a number of things... it's at times a love story, as Ermo grows disenchanted with her own husband and attracted to "Blindman," the husband of her neighbor. It also seems at times to be a social satire about how our possessions can begin to possess us. But these and a number of other plot threads all come down in the end to a story about just what it is we really need to be happy, how what we really need isn't always what we think it is, and what can happen when we actually GET what we think we want. It's a story told very well indeed, in a low-key but effective manner with plenty of rich characterization, warm human moments, and occasional touches of humor. It's also the kind of story that happens to be so universal that everyone is guaranteed to see themselves somewhere in it. A charming film that is perhaps not as well known as it ought to be.

Starring Alia, Ge Zhijun and Zhang Hiayan. Directed by Zhou Xiao Wen. (Review written: 6/25.02)

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The Executioners (Heroic Trio II)

In this sequel to The Heroic Trio, Michelle Yeoh, Anita Mui and Maggie Cheung return as super-heroines Invisible Girl, Wonder Woman and Thief Catcher. The world is a much grimmer place than it was in the original film, as a nuclear disaster has contaminated much of the water supply and search parties looking for a source of clean water often don't make it back alive. A sinister, masked villain has stepped into the picture, developing a way to purify contaminated water... and he plans to use this as a means of, yes, you guessed it, taking over the world (well, today Hong Kong, TOMORROW the world). Of course, the Heroic Trio might have something to say about that. This sequel is every bit as well-made and acted as the first, but fans of the earlier film should be prepared for a considerably more somber atmosphere this time out... not only is the world a notably less fun place, but each member of the trio suffers some traumatic loss during the film. That doesn't make it any less impressive of a film, though... on the contrary, it adds depth to what what already a great story and puts it on a level with the best of the recent "serious" comic-book examinations of super-heroes such as Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. And of course, you can always forget about all of that and just sit back and enjoy some dazzling stunts and special effects, of which there are plenty. On a number of levels, a film well worth the time.

Also starring Damian Lau and Anthony Wong. Produced and directed by Johnny To and Ching Siu Tung. (Review written: 6/26/02)

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