In the last few decades, films about workers and the labor movement in American cinema have been few and far between. Documentaries such as American Factory, however, can begin to shed light on the problems facing workers in the 21st century world of global capitalism. Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert (“Making Morning Star”),…
“Even though I am poor and I have AIDS, I am happy. Each day brings hope.” — Liu Ximei Ximei, a documentary filmed in China over a seven-year period by Andy Cohen and Gaylen Ross, follows the HIV-positive titular protagonist and plain-spoken community leader named Ximei, a local “peasant” woman in her thirties. Ximei is…
The ongoing “Ip Man” movie franchise, essentially a series of increasingly fictional biopics about the martial arts master most famous for teaching a young Bruce Lee, has long been a solid source of slickly spectacular set pieces. Now, the tradition continues in the spin-off Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy, another action extravaganza pitting a…
In comparison, the western world’s absurd fascination with social media, online celebrity/fandom, and socioeconomic gain in virtual reality seems to take a noticeable backseat to the immense obsession that is China’s ultra-live streaming epidemic. Filmmaker Hao Wu’s tellingly spry and insightful documentary People’s Republic of Desire is an involving expose of this technological addiction gone…
Apparently, Superman is not the only one that can leap a tall building in a single bound. Ubiquitous action star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has his own grand-style leaping to do with towering buildings in the boisterous, but disjointed, summertime blockbuster Skyscraper. Monotonously recycled, formulaic and exhausting, Skyscraper is a nosebleed of a thrill-ride that…
Miao Wang’s Maineland is a seemingly straight-forward documentary feature profiling Chinese students — members of the enormous wave of “parachute students” — competing to study abroad in the United States. Filmed over three years in both China and the U.S., the film follows two affluent and cosmopolitan teenagers as they settle into boarding school in…
In Chinese culture, the number three is considered lucky for its similarity to the character meaning “life” or “to give birth.” As such, Mountains May Depart makes no small use of significant triptychs in telling its story. The film is segmented into three disparate chapters and time periods; its three main characters are caught up…
