9 Movies Starring Tao Zhao

Platform

Platform

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2001-08-29

Languages:

Mandarin, Shanxi

Countries:

Hong Kong, China, Japan, France

Runtime:

154 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.4 (1588 Reviews)

Director:

Zhangke Jia

Genres:

DramaHistory

Fullplot:

Set in Fenyang, Shanxi Province, the film focuses on a group of amateur theatre troupe performers whose fate mirrors that of the general population in China as massive socio-economic changes sweep across the mainland. The film commences in 1979 with the troupe performing numbers idolizing Mao Zedong, ending in the '80s when the shows reflect the strong Western influences pervading China, covering a decade in which China saw tremendous changes.

Unknown Pleasures

Unknown Pleasures

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2003-01-22

Languages:

Mandarin, English

Countries:

China, Japan, South Korea, France

Runtime:

112 min

Rated:

UNRATED

IMDB Ratings:

(1577 Reviews)

Director:

Zhangke Jia

Genres:

ComedyDrama

Fullplot:

Two unemployed slackers, neither with job prospects nor motivation, hang out in sheltered town in China trying to make sense of their aimless and uncertain futures. As youths, they struggle for individual freedom and the social responsibility that comes along with it.

The World

The World

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2005-04-15

Languages:

Mandarin, Russian, English

Countries:

China, Japan, France

Runtime:

143 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.1 (2236 Reviews)

Director:

Zhangke Jia

Genres:

Drama

Fullplot:

"The World" is a theme park on the outskirts of Beijing, sixteen kilometers from the Chinese capital, designed around scaled representations of the world's famous landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower or the Leaning Tower of Pisa.The site is seen here not from the visitors' point of view but through the eyes of a few of its staff, lonely people, communicating poorly, a bit disillusioned with life, glittering for the tourists but dull and restricted as far as they are concerned. We meet, among others, pretty young dancer Tao and Taisheng, a security guard who is fond of her but not of personal commitment...

Still Life

Still Life

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2006-11-16

Languages:

Mandarin

Countries:

China, Hong Kong

Runtime:

111 min

Rated:

UNRATED

IMDB Ratings:

7.3 (4063 Reviews)

Director:

Zhangke Jia

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Zhangke Jia (screenplay)

Na Guan

Jiamin Sun

Fullplot:

Coalminer Han Sanming comes from Fengyang in Shanxi to the Three Gorges town Fengjie to look for his ex-wife whom he has not seen for 16 years. The couple meet on the bank of the Yangtze River and vow to remarry. Nurse Shen Hong also comes to Fengjie from Taiyuan in Shanxi to look for her husband who has not been home for two years. The couple embrace each other and waltz under the imposing Three Gorges dam, but feel they are so apart and decide to have a divorce. The old township has been submerged, while a new town has to be built. Life persists in the Three Gorges - what should be taken up is taken up, what should be cast off is cast off.

Still Life

Still Life

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2006-11-16

Languages:

Mandarin

Countries:

China, Hong Kong

Runtime:

111 min

Rated:

UNRATED

IMDB Ratings:

7.3 (4083 Reviews)

Director:

Zhangke Jia

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Zhangke Jia (screenplay)

Na Guan

Jiamin Sun

Fullplot:

Coalminer Han Sanming comes from Fengyang in Shanxi to the Three Gorges town Fengjie to look for his ex-wife whom he has not seen for 16 years. The couple meet on the bank of the Yangtze River and vow to remarry. Nurse Shen Hong also comes to Fengjie from Taiyuan in Shanxi to look for her husband who has not been home for two years. The couple embrace each other and waltz under the imposing Three Gorges dam, but feel they are so apart and decide to have a divorce. The old township has been submerged, while a new town has to be built. Life persists in the Three Gorges - what should be taken up is taken up, what should be cast off is cast off.

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.

Shun Li and the Poet

Shun Li and the Poet

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2011-09-23

Languages:

Italian, Mandarin

Countries:

Italy, France

Runtime:

98 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.3 (1217 Reviews)

Director:

Andrea Segre

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Andrea Segre (story)

Andrea Segre (screenplay)

Marco Pettenello (screenplay)

Fullplot:

A study of the friendship between a Chinese woman and a fisherman who came to Italy from Yugoslavia many years ago, who live in a small city-island in the Veneto lagoon.

A Touch of Sin

A Touch of Sin

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2013-12-11

Languages:

Mandarin, Cantonese, English

Countries:

China, Japan, France

Runtime:

133 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.1 (5789 Reviews)

Director:

Zhangke Jia

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Zhangke Jia (screenplay)

Fullplot:

Four independent stories set in modern China about random acts of violence.

Mountains May Depart

Mountains May Depart

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2015-12-23

Languages:

Chinese, Cantonese, Mandarin, English

Countries:

China, France, Japan

Runtime:

131 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.6 (206 Reviews)

Director:

Zhangke Jia

Genres:

Drama

Cast:

Writer:

Zhangke Jia (screenplay)

Fullplot:

China, 1999. Childhood friends Liangzi and Zhang are both in love with Tao, the town beauty. Tao eventually decides to marry the wealthier Zhang. They soon have a son he names Dollar... From China to Australia, the lives, loves, hopes and disillusions of a family over two generations in a society changing at breakneck speed.

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