2010 Film Recommendations, from China Daily

After a lengthy six-month break I've decided to resume the blog, although no promises will be made that posts will appear regularly. Much as I'd love to spend hours and hours surfing the net to bring you news and information on Chinese entertainment, unfortunately things like work and family commitments too often intrude.

We'll start 2011 with a list, as it's that time of year when newspapers and magazines compile their various Top 10s and Top 5s for the year just passed. China Daily, the PRC Government's English-language newspaper, has published its Top Ten movies from 2010. In first place is the new action comedy set in the 1920s, Let The Bullets Fly (让子弹飞) - more on this film in the next couple of weeks, as it's on target to surpass Aftershock as mainland China's biggest grossing Chinese film ever.

At number two was the Taiwanese gangster movie, Monga (艋舺), directed by Doze Niu - just his second feature film - and starring two rising idols, Ethan Ruan and Mark Chao. The film was both a critical and commercial hit in a country not previously known for its gangster movies. Number three was the gritty Hong Kong family drama, Echoes of the Rainbow (岁月神偷). The Alex Law directed film won Best Actor (Simon Yam) and Best Newcomer (singer Aarif Lee) at the Hong Kong Film Awards, while the film's other star, Sandra Ng, was nominated for Best Actress.

An obscure mainland arthouse film, Deep in the Clouds, (碧罗雪山) with a cast of non-professional actors, was ranked fourth, while at number five is China's current biggest grossing locally-made film, Aftershock (唐山大地震). Aftershock begins with the disastrous Tangshan earthquake of 1976 then follows the fortunes of some of the quake's survivors. The film's climax is provided by China's second recent major earthquake, the Sichuan earthquake in 2008.

The full Top Ten list is:
1. Let the Bullets Fly (China)
2. Monga (Taiwan)
3. Echoes of the Rainbow (Hong Kong)
4. Deep in the Clouds (China)
5. Aftershock (China)
6. Lost on Journey (人在囧途 - China)
7. Vegetate (我是植物人 - China)
8. Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (狄仁杰之通天帝国 - Hong Kong)
9. The War of Internet Addiction (网瘾战争 - China)
10. Love in a Puff (志明与春娇 - Hong Kong)