14 Movies Starring Joan Chen

Tai-Pan

Tai-Pan

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1986-11-07

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

127 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

5.4 (1226 Reviews)

Director:

Daryl Duke

Genres:

Adventure

Cast:

Writer:

John Briley (screenplay)

James Clavell (novel)

Stanley Mann (screenplay)

Fullplot:

Tai-Pan is Chinese for "supreme leader". This is the man with real power to his hands. And such a Tai-Pan is Dirk Struan who is obsessed by his plan to make Hong Kong the "jewel in the crown of her British Majesty". In 1841 he achieves his goal but he has many enemies who try to destroy his plans. Will they succeed?

The Last Emperor

The Last Emperor

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1988-04-15

Languages:

English, Mandarin, Japanese, Russian

Countries:

China, Italy, UK, France

Runtime:

163 min

Rated:

PG-13

IMDB Ratings:

7.8 (64788 Reviews)

Cast:

Writer:

Mark Peploe (screenplay)

Bernardo Bertolucci (screenplay)

Enzo Ungari (initial screenplay collaboration)

Fullplot:

A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.

Heaven & Earth

Heaven & Earth

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1994-01-07

Languages:

English, Vietnamese

Countries:

France, USA

Runtime:

140 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

6.8 (10175 Reviews)

Director:

Oliver Stone

Cast:

Writer:

Le Ly Hayslip (book)

Jay Wurts (book)

Le Ly Hayslip (book)

James Hayslip (book)

Oliver Stone (screenplay)

Fullplot:

The final movie in Oliver Stone's Vietnam trilogy follows the true story of a Vietnamese village girl who survives a life of suffering and hardship during and after the Vietnam war. As a freedom fighter, a hustler, young mother, a sometime prostitute, and the wife of a US. marine, the girl's relationships with men suggests an analogy of Vietnam as Woman and the U.S. as Man.

Temptation of a Monk

Temptation of a Monk

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1995-08-25

Languages:

Mandarin, Cantonese

Countries:

Hong Kong

Runtime:

118 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.8 (288 Reviews)

Director:

Clara Law

Cast:

Writer:

Eddie Ling-Ching Fong (screenplay)

Pik Wah Lee (screenplay)

Pik Wah Lee (novel)

Fullplot:

Near the beginning of the Tang dynasty, in 7th century China, General Shi Yan-sheng is tricked into leaving the crown prince unguarded. The crown prince is murdered by one of his brothers who then becomes emperor. Shi retreats to a monastery, perhaps to hide, perhaps to plan a coup. When his loyal troops as well as the princess he desires are slain, he seeks refuge in a remote, abandoned monastery where an aged abbot schools him with practical, earthy teachings. The emperor's forces pursue Shi: first a woman, then a general seek to overpower him with lust and might. Over the course of the film, the reds of battle give way to blues of meditation.

On Deadly Ground

On Deadly Ground

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1994-02-18

Languages:

English, Inuktitut

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

101 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

4.3 (16680 Reviews)

Director:

Steven Seagal

Cast:

Writer:

Ed Horowitz

Robin U. Russin

Fullplot:

Forrest Taft is an environmental agent who works for the Aegis Oil Company in Alaska. Aegis Oil's corrupt CEO, Michael Jennings, is the kind of person who doesn't care whether or not oil spills into the ocean or onto the land, just as long as it's making money for him. He even makes commercials that make him look like he cares about the environment. Jennings is almost finished with building his new state-of-the art oil rig: AEGIS-1. The problem is that if he doesn't finish building the rig in thirteen days, the land rights will be returned to the Eskimos and the Alaskan government. When Jennings finds out that Taft's best friend Hugh Palmer has a computer disk that contains information about defective equipment on AEGIS-1, he sends out his goons to murder Palmer. When Taft tries to interfere, Jennings tries to kill Taft. But an Eskimo woman named Masu, who introduces Taft to her father Silook, the chief of her tribe, rescues Taft. With Masu's help, Taft begins a trek through the Alaskan wilderness, heading straight for AEGIS-1 and to destroy it before it destroys all of the forest.

Jasmine Flower

Jasmine Flower

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2006-04-26

Languages:

Mandarin, Shanghainese

Countries:

China

Runtime:

130 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.6 (661 Reviews)

Director:

Yong Hou

Cast:

Writer:

Yong Hou (screenplay)

Su Tong (novel)

Xian Zhang (screenplay)

Fullplot:

Generational family saga set in Shanghai in the thirties, sixties and eighties.

Saving Face

Saving Face

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2005-06-24

Languages:

English, Mandarin, Shanghainese

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

91 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

7.6 (7235 Reviews)

Director:

Alice Wu

Fullplot:

In Manhattan, the brilliant Chinese-American lesbian surgeon Wil is surprised by the arrival of her forty-eight year old widow mother to her apartment. Ma was banished from Flushing, Queens, when her father discovered that she was pregnant. The presence of Ma affects the personal life of Wil, who is in love with the daughter of her boss at the hospital, the dancer Vivian Shing. Once her grandfather has promised that her mother would only return to Flushing remarried or proving that it was an immaculate conception, Wil tries to find a Chinese bachelor to marry Ma.

Sunflower

Sunflower

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2007-08-17

Languages:

Mandarin, English

Countries:

Hong Kong, China, Netherlands

Runtime:

129 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.3 (597 Reviews)

Director:

Yang Zhang

Genres:

DramaRomance

Cast:

Writer:

Shangjun Cai

Xin Huo

Yang Zhang

Fullplot:

Relationship between father and son on a background of Maoist regime in China in the mid-20th century. The father, a painter by profession, interned in a labor camp for "re-education" and loses his ability to paint. he teaches his son to draw, but does so obsessively. The convoluted relationship between father and son that spread over the period of childhood, adolescence and maturity of the son are being resolved in a surprising and sensitive way.

The Home Song Stories

The Home Song Stories

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2007-08-23

Languages:

Mandarin, Cantonese, English

Countries:

Australia, Singapore

Runtime:

103 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.2 (771 Reviews)

Director:

Tony Ayres

Genres:

Drama

Fullplot:

Rose, a Shanhainese songstress singing at nightclubs in HongKong during the 60's, marries an Australian sailor and migrates with her young son and daughter to Melbourne. Her past filled with lost innocence, she begins a cycle of dependence and desperation to create a family for herself and her children, culminating with her affair with Qi, an illegal immigrant from HongKong. Watched through the eyes of her young son, the mother's journey reveals painful truths about the human condition, the love of family and self, and the price we pay for growing up.

The Sun Also Rises

The Sun Also Rises

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2007-09-21

Languages:

Mandarin, Russian, Uighur

Countries:

China

Runtime:

116 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.1 (1198 Reviews)

Director:

Wen Jiang

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Shixing Guo

Wen Jiang

Ping Shu

Mi Ye (novel)

Fullplot:

Jiang Wen stars in his third directorial work that boasts a stellar cast including Joan Chen, Anthony Wong and Jaycee Chan. A polyptych of interconnected stories in different time-zones, shifting between a Yunnan village, a campus, and the Gobi Desert.

Lust, Caution

Lust, Caution

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2007-10-26

Languages:

Mandarin, Japanese, English, Hindi, Shanghainese, Cantonese

Countries:

USA, China, Taiwan

Runtime:

157 min

Rated:

NC-17

IMDB Ratings:

7.6 (29176 Reviews)

Director:

Ang Lee

Cast:

Writer:

Eileen Chang (story)

James Schamus (screenplay)

Hui-Ling Wang (screenplay)

Fullplot:

Frustrated in his attempts to assassinate Yee, who is an important official in Japanese-ruled Shanghai, Old Wu, who has lost his wife and two sons as well as two women who had attempted to seduce Yee, now recruits Kuang, Mai Tai Tai, and their troupe of drama students from Hong Kong University in yet another attempt to do away with Yee. Mai Tai Tai is chosen to befriend Yee, which she does by posing as the wife of Mak, befriending Yee's wife and her female friends, and then eventually befriending Yee himself. Even though both get together, they do end up going separate ways, only to meet again four years later. This time Mai is all set to entrap Yee at Chandni Chowk Jewellers which is owned by an East Indian man named Khalid Saiduddin. The question does remain: Will she and her troupe succeed?

24 City

24 City

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2009-03-06

Languages:

Mandarin, Shanghainese

Countries:

China, Hong Kong, Japan

Runtime:

112 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.2 (1068 Reviews)

Director:

Zhangke Jia

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Zhangke Jia

Yongming Zhai

Fullplot:

Change and a city in China. In Chengdu, factory 420 is being pulled down to make way for multi-story buildings with luxury flats. Scenes of factory operations, of the workforce, and of buildings stripped bare and then razed, are inter-cut with workers who were born in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s telling their stories - about the factory, which manufactured military aircraft, and about their work and their lives. A middle-aged man visits his mentor, now elderly; a woman talks of being a 19-year-old beauty there and ending up alone. The film concludes with two young people talking, each the child of workers, each relaying a story of one visit to a factory. Times change.

Love in Disguise

Love in Disguise

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2010-08-12

Languages:

Mandarin

Countries:

China, Taiwan

Runtime:

98 min

IMDB Ratings:

5.9 (455 Reviews)

Director:

Leehom Wang

Cast:

Writer:

Hung-chieh Chen

Hsin-Yi Tu

Leehom Wang

Fullplot:

White Frog

White Frog

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2012-03-08

Languages:

English

Countries:

USA

Runtime:

93 min

Rated:

NOT RATED

IMDB Ratings:

6.8 (1295 Reviews)

Director:

Quentin Lee

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Ellie Wen

Fabienne Wen

Fullplot:

Younger brother Nick (Booboo Stewart), who has Asperger's syndrome, struggles to cope and understand after the death of his brother Chaz (Harry Shum Jr.). His parents are in denial about several things, and are not communicating or dealing well with the loss, but then Chaz's best friend, Randy, decides to become a mentor to Nick.

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