Word: zhang
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...severe may the punishment be for the crime of being a rich wastrel in a poor land? If the land is China in the first three decades of Mao's reign, the sentence is severe. To Live, the new film from Zhang Yimou, China's top director, is a visually ravishing, emotionally relentless catalog of the indignations visited on a family that had the bad luck to have it good before the revolution...
...truth is that until Pulp Fiction barged in, Cannes this year had no strong prize contenders. Instead, it presented a roundup of best directors' next-best films. The Chinese master Zhang Yimou sent To Live; the film, which spans 30 years of Maoist hard times, is beautifully observed and performed (the male lead, Ge You, won the Best Actor prize), but lacks the fiery power of Zhang's Ju Dou and Raise the Red Lantern. Nikita Mikhalkov intended his Burned by the Sun as a Russian Gone With the Wind, a story of country life amid the turmoil of tyranny...
...Thought Figure Skating Was a Hostile Sport: Believing gold medalist Cathy Turner of the U.S. had knocked her off balance in the 500-m short-track speed-skating final, Chinese silver medalist Zhang Yanmei refused to pose with Turner at the podium and flung her bouquet to the ground. As China lodged a protest, Canadian Nathalie Lambert sympathized, calling Cathy Turner "the dirtiest skater." On Saturday, Turner was disqualified from the 1,000-m for illegally cutting off another competitor. Said Turner: "The judges were just waiting...
...Chinese opera stars, "Farewell My Concubine" benefits from Taiwanese director Chen Kaige's masterful use of lighting, sound, and setting. This skill is apparent from the movie's beginning--reuniting in 1977, post-Cultural Revolution China, the movie's two main characters, Cheng Dieyi(Leslie Cheung) and Duan Xiaolou (Zhang Fengyi) walk tentatively side by side into the bright light of a bare gymnasium, to be greeted by a single admirer rather than the thousands they once entertained. This make-shift stage, with its single spotlight, bears an eerie resemblance to the interrogation rooms of the Communists, giving the reunion...
...their lives, with Xiaolou playing the strong, proud King of Chu while Dieyi takes the role of his faithful concubine Yu. Xiaolou's character is one whose blustering demonstrations of strength are not enough to keep him from bending under the strain of the harshpolitical times, and actor Zhang Fengyi does anadmirable job of portraying a character whoeventually finds it necessary to turn againstthose he loves...