

In this drama, the harsh treatment of women in Chinese society is examined and subtly commented upon as it tells the tale of an impoverished woman living in Shanghai, circa 1910 who tries to support her brother and sister-in-law. A marriage to a wealthy man is arranged for her, and reluctantly she endures it, even though she does not love the man who is as cruel as he is wealthy. His mother is also brutally unkind to her. She then has a son, but her struggles are not over when her husband dies and only leaves her a modest inheritance. Her wretched life has made her bitter, and so she begins making her son suffer as she die; she also becomes addicted to opium.


In this drama, the harsh treatment of women in Chinese society is examined and subtly commented upon as it tells the tale of an impoverished woman living in Shanghai, circa 1910 who tries to support her brother and sister-in-law. A marriage to a wealthy man is arranged for her, and reluctantly she endures it, even though she does not love the man who is as cruel as he is wealthy. His mother is also brutally unkind to her. She then has a son, but her struggles are not over when her husband dies and only leaves her a modest inheritance. Her wretched life has made her bitter, and so she begins making her son suffer as she die; she also becomes addicted to opium.
1988-03-26
5.286
7.7Two married couples adjust to the vast social and economic changes taking place in China from the 1980s to the present.
6.8Years after her boyfriend left her for the big city and promised to bring her there after he’s settled down, a Chinese woman sets out on a journey to be reunited with him.
6.8In Chengdu, China, a retired female opera singer named Master Chang takes in a trio of young tenants into her boarding home. The tenants include a rock singer and a college student who has run away from home.
7.3A movie fan escapes from a labour camp during the Chinese Cultural Revolution and strikes up a relationship with a homeless female vagabond.
6.5In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
7.0A street vendor with a grim home-life forges a connection with a young woman on her way to Paris.
6.0A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
6.2After the lewd and frenetic Dance of the Seven Veils, and with the solemn pledge from the very lips of Herod himself that she could have whatever her heart desires up to half his kingdom, wanton and proud young Salomé comes before her king with an unreasonable demand. Beguiled by John the Baptist, and then scorned for the sake of his god, lascivious Salomé—encouraged by her mother, the vindictive, Herodias—commands that John be executed and his head delivered on a silver platter.
7.2Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even more remote spot with a Tibetan saddle tramp Lao Jin to learn horse herding.
6.6Four siblings' lives change drastically when their ailing mother takes a turn for the worse over the holiday season.
7.2A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
7.3In the Chinese town of Fuyang, four brothers go about their day-to-day lives, their destinies shaped by love and challenges.
6.6An uninterrupted rehearsal of Chekhov's 'Uncle Vanya' plays out by a company of actors. The setting: their run-down theater with an unusable stage and crumbling ceiling. The play is shown act by act with the briefest of breaks to move props or for refreshments. The lack of costumes, real props and scenery is soon forgotten.
6.2While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.
6.9On the French island of Mont Saint-Michel, Jack, a failed presidential candidate, Tom, a poet and Sonia, a physicist, engage in an intellectual conversation about politics, philosophy and life over the course of a single day.
6.5On the outside, Helen has it all – a loving family and a successful career – but when her suppressed mental illness resurfaces, the world crumbles around her. Crippled by depression, Helen finds solace through her friendship with Mathilda, a kindred spirit struggling with bipolar disorder.
7.2Ah-Ching and his friends have just finished school in their island fishing village, and now spend most of their time drinking and fighting. Three of them decide to go to the port city of Kaohsiung to look for work. They find an apartment through relatives, and Ah-Ching is attracted to the girlfriend of a neighbor. There they face the harsh realities of the big city.
5.8The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
6.9A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.