Sean Gilman

A film critic in Tacoma, Washington. Bylines at The Criterion Collection, the Mubi Notebook, Frame.land, InReview Online, Seattle Screen Scene and more.

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Jeffrey Lau

Treasure Hunt (Jeffrey Lau, 1994)

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Corey Yuen

Saviour of the Soul I & II (Corey Yuen, David Lai, & Jeffrey Lau, 1991 & 1992)

Daniel Lee

Code of the Assassins (Daniel Lee, 2022)

Code of the Assassins was originally released in China last summer with the English title Song of the Assassins, but now WellGo has renamed it and brought it to the US, streaming and on disc. The title change doesn’t seem to make much of a difference: there isn’t

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Hou Cheng

Pretty Good Stuff: The Shaolin Invincibles and Seven to One (Hou Cheng, 1977 and 1973)

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Yuen Woo-ping

In the Line of Duty IV (Yuen Woo-ping, 1989)

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In the Line of Duty

In the Line of Duty III (Brandy Yuen & Arthur Wong, 1988)

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Wai Ka-fai

Peace Hotel (Wai Ka-fai, 1995)

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Chen Chi-hwa

Red Pirate (Chen Chi-hwa, 1997)

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Stephen Shin

Easy Money (Stephen Shin, 1987)

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Mang Hoi

The Tantana (Mang Hoi, 1991)

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Zhang Yimou

Snipers (Zhang Yimou & Zhang Mo, 2022)

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Hong Sangsoo

In Water (Hong Sangsoo, 2023)

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Tsui Hark

Black Mask 2: City of Masks (Tsui Hark, 2002)

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Stephen Shin

Black Cat II: The Assassination of President Yeltsin (Stephen Shin, 1992)

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Gordon Chan

Fist of Legend (Gordon Chan, 1994)

Cheng Er

Hidden Blade (Cheng Er, 2023)

When Hidden Blade was first announced, it was called Anonymous (a literal translation of its Chinese title “無名”) and stated to be the third part of a propaganda trilogy which included Andrew Lau’s 2021 COVID drama Chinese Doctors and the first (but not the second?) part of The Battle

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Ringo Lam

Undeclared War (Ringo Lam, 1990)

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Yiu Tin-hung

Secret Police (Yiu Tin-hung, 1992)

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Stephen Shin

Black Cat (Stephen Shin, 1991)

Introduction

Sources

This is a bibliography of the books and websites on Chinese Cinema which I’ve collected over the years. Some of them I've read more completely than others, but all should provide useful information. I've marked with an asterisk the titles and sites I've

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Wong Jing

New Kung Fu Cult Master (Wong Jing and Venus Keung, 2022)

Frant Gwo

The Wandering Earth II (Frant Gwo, 2023)

Four years and many, many crises ago, The Wandering Earth became one of the biggest Chinese blockbusters of all-time. A sci-fi epic about family and sacrifice for the collective good, it effectively welded Hollywood-style disaster effects action to a PRC-friendly message and dominated that year’s Lunar New Year season.

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Johnnie To

The Bare-Footed Kid (Johnnie To, 1993)

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Chor Yuen

Swordsman and Enchantress (Chor Yuen, 1978)

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Michelle Yeoh

Police Story 3: Supercop (Stanley Tong, 1992)