5 Movies Directed by Yang Zhang

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Shenzhen businessman, Da Ming, goes home to Beijing when he thinks his father has died. He finds his father hard at work at the family's bathhouse (the false message was a ruse of Da's mentally-handicapped, exuberant brother, Er Ming, to get Da home). Da stays a couple days, observing his father being social director, marriage counselor, and dispute mediator for his customers and a boon companion to Er. Da is caught between worlds: the decaying district of his childhood and the booming south where he now lives with a wife who's not met his family. When Da realizes his father's health is failing and the district is slated for razing, he must take stock of family and future.

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'Aiqing mala tang' ('Spicy Love Soup') starts with a young couple eating sweet (or sour) and spicy soup from a two-sided bowl shaped in a Yin and Yang pattern. Until the couple's wedding at the end of the film, 'Aiqing mala tang' intermittently shows six different episodes about different generations' relationships. Love can be sweet, sour, or spicy. And, you'll taste all those emotions from this contemporary Chinese film 'Aiqing mala tang'.

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In the early 1990s, Hongshen Jia, then in his mid twenties and based in Beijing, was considered one of the most promising of the emerging actors in China, with several movie and television roles to his credit. However, self doubt in his acting abilities coupled with an emerging drug problem, especially with heroin, led to him deciding to quit acting. Instead, he spent his time solely listening to music and taking drugs. His erratic behavior led to alienation of friends and ultimately leading a solitary life. First his sister and then in addition his rural based parents, his father who took early retirement, came to live with Hongshen in Beijing to help him through his life problems, which included financially supporting him. Hongshen treated them poorly, especially his father, who in turn accepted Hongshen's abusive behavior all in the name of helping him. But they didn't trust him and followed him everywhere. Ultimately the family had figure out what to do to best help Hongshen. Ultimately, Hongshen, and in association his family, is provided a unique opportunity to allow him to release the emotions associated with this turbulent time in his life.

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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.

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A black comedy about a farmer who tries to bring home the body of his friend, who died far from their town.