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Zhang Yimou |
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Director / Producer / Screenwriter |
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1951 - |
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Born November 14,
Xi'an, Shaanxi, China |
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Key
Production Countries: Hong Kong, China |
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Key Genres: Drama, Period Film, Rural Drama, Marriage Drama,
Romantic Drama, Martial Arts |
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Key
Collaborators: Gong Li (Leading Player),
Du Yuan (Editor), Cao Jiuping (Production Designer), Zhao Jiping
(Composer), Lu Yue (Cinematographer), Zhang Ziyi (Leading Player), Chiu Fu-Sheng (Producer),
Bill Kong (Producer), Lui Heng (Screenwriter), Li Feng (Screenwriter), Wang Bin (Screenwriter) |
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Highly Recommended: Red
Sorghum (1987)*, Ju Dou (1990)*, Raise the Red
Lantern (1991)*, Shanghai Triad (1995) |
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Recommended: The
Story of Qiu Ju (1992), To Live (1994), Hero (2002)^, House of Flying
Daggers (2004)^ |
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Worth a Look:
Keep Cool (1997), Not One Less (1998), Curse of the Golden Flower (2006) |
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* Listed in TSPDT's
1,000 Greatest Films
section; ^
Listed in TSPDT's
21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films
section. |
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Links:
[
Amazon
] [
IMDB ] [
All-Movie
Guide ] [
Senses
of Cinema: Great Directors ] [
Zhang
Yimou and Lucid Dreaming Resources on the Internet ] [
The
Exquisite Muse of Zhang Yimou ] [
Asian
Films' Pages ] [
Zhang Yimou Fan Page ] [
Future
Movies Interview (2004) ] [
Woman as spectacle in Zhang Yimou's "Theatre of punishments" ]
[
Bright Lights Film Journal Interview (2007)
] |
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Books: [
Zhang
Yimou: Interviews ] |
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"His
early films were often suppressed by the Chinese authorities for
political reasons, despite finding critical favour abroad. He is
now one of the best-known and most influential members of
China's Fifth Generation movement, a group of directors whose
careers began after the Cultural Revolution; he has recently
become known for lavish, digitally-enhanced historical action
epics that showcase his love of dramatic, colourful visuals." -
(Chambers Film Factfinder, 2006) |
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"Zhang Yimou's
strengths are many: he has a command of intricate, quick
narratives all the more surprising in that he sometimes dwells
on shots or scenes - but complexities mount up very rapidly (as
in the development of the brutal son in Ju Dou); he is as
great a director of interiors as
Ozu
or
Mizoguchi - the dye works in
Ju Dou and the household in Raise the Red Lantern
become superb stages for the melodrama;
and he has Gong Li as his actress." -
David Thomson (The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, 2002) |
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"Among
the first post-Mao film school graduates, Zhang Yimou dares to
express moral ambiguity and an implicit reaction against
authority in his films. Reacting against the propagandist films
he was subjected to in his youth, former cameraman Zhang
recalled that at film school, "we swore... we would never make
films like that." -
Ronald Bergan (Film - Eyewitness Companions, 2006) |
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"I
hope before I am getting too old and when my mind is still
functioning, I can tell some better stories." -
Zhang Yimou |
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Please
note that the rating given for this director (see top-right) is based
only on the films we have seen (listed above). Films by this director
that we haven't seen include The Road Home (1999), Happy Times (2000)
and A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop (2009). |
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