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Chow Yun-fat’s mainland Chinese films, from Confucius to Let the Bullets Fly
We look at five films that Hong Kong actor Chow Yun-fat made in mainland China, with roles including a sleazy con man and Confucius
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Chow Yun-fat’s career has progressed through many phases: television performer, box-office poison, action superhero, Hollywood hopeful.
In the 2000s, following the success of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the Hong Kong cinema icon made a number of films in mainland China, beginning with Zhang Yimou’s Curse of the Golden Flower.
Here, we evaluate the quality of Chow’s mainland output.
The Postmodern Life of my Aunt (2006)
Superstar mainland actress Siqin Gaowa was popular in Hong Kong in the 1980s and ’90s, and the big draw of Ann Hui On-wah’s light social drama is seeing her play a provincial woman who has failed to benefit from China’s economic boom.
Opposite her is Chow as a sleazy charmer with whom she has a brief and unexpected affair. Chow, in a supporting role, acts against type and forgoes his typical heroic qualities to play a preening con man, aided by a shifty-looking moustache.
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