Word: li
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...circa 220 B.C. China's soon-to-be first Emperor is on the brink of conquering the war-torn land and three of his most passionate opponents (played by Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi) are trying to assassinate him. The Emperor hires one man (the inimitable Jet Li) to stop them. Love, jealousy, rivalry and a flurry of martial arts vivify this ripping yarn...
...talent at work on this project reads like an A-to-Z list of the region's most beautiful, bankable and influential. Besides the stellar leads, Hong Kong actor/director Donnie Yen, the high-flying martial artist known for his rhythmic, graceful style, pits his gravity-defying leaps against Li in a scene that will have kung fu fans roaring for more. Working in three languages (Mandarin, Cantonese and English) and vastly different styles, these actors helped forge the martial-arts genre that made Hong Kong film's name...
...film Zhang is extending this ability to create a new form of action scene: rhythmic, poignant and majestic. Yen, whose working relationship with Li goes back a decade, sees that. He's fresh off success in the U.S. where Yuen Wo-ping's 1993 classic Iron Monkey, in which Yen plays a lead, was rereleased by Miramax and made $10 million at the box office. He applauds Zhang's command of a new style: "For a guy who has never directed action, he's got a nuance for certain pauses, certain breaks. He never stops looking at the bigger picture...
There are few surprises about who the villains of Tiananmen were, but there is an unmatchable frisson in watching them play their roles in real time. Li Peng, then China's Premier, was and is still known as a hard-line troublemaker. He comes off terribly in the papers: wheedling, whining, gleefully back-stabbing peers unlucky enough to have missed a meeting. Watch as he tries to manipulate Deng Xiaoping in an early conclave: "Some of the protest posters and the slogans that students shout during the marches are anti-Party and anti-socialist," he says. "The spear...
...Beijing economist and a kindergarten teacher, was a sophomore at China Central Drama College. Then the stampede began. The Berlin Film Festival welcomed her debut feature, The Road Home, a visual love letter to the young actress from top Mainland director Zhang Yimou, who had earlier wrapped Gong Li in his stardust (and who is said to be romantically involved with his new protege). Then Crouching Tiger triumphed at Cannes, and with critics and the discerning public. By year's end she had become one of Esquire's Women We Love and had earned a featured role in Jackie Chan...