I saw some set in ancient China which seemed pretty cool. I’d love to find it and get some subtitles going.
One show had an evil character that was a woman with many lower ear piercings. Starting on her ear lobes, trailing up the edge of her ear. She seemed like a power hungry royal who’d slap and punish other women a lot. Really pretty show. Her looks and character’s tendencies are why I remember it.
OK I’ve got plenty of recs, I assume by Chinese you mean Mandarin Chinese but if that’s not the case let me know and I’ll shoot you other recs. Anyway:
Three Kingdoms from 2010 is a great show about the Three Kingdoms period. Dozens and dozens of episodes, it’s got the intrigue of Game of Thrones set in historical three kingdoms period China. Can be found on YouTube very easily.
The works of Bi Gan are incredible. Long Day’s Journey Into Night is basically a David Lynch movie fused with a Tarkovsky movie set in southern China. Superb stuff. The last 50 minute sequence, all of which is filmed in one shot, is breathtaking. One of my favorite movies of all time.
Jia Zhangke is another very famous Chinese filmmaker that makes great movies. Start with 24 City, but really any of his work is wonderful.
Edward Yang is a Taiwanese New Wave filmmaker who has some of the greatest films ever shot. Yiyi is the best film of the 21st century, no question. A Confucian Confusion, A Brighter Summer’s Day, and The Terrorizers are all classics as well. A lot of Taiwanese New Wave is great tbh, Hou Hsiao-hsien is another who has some great stuff (A City of Sadness, Daughter of the Nile).
Only the River Flows is a perfect crime drama, in the vein of Kurosawa’s Cure, True Detective season 1, or Bong’s Memories of a Murder. The dark atmosphere is fantastic, and the cinematography has this delicious vintage feel despite the movie being from last year.
I’m an American learning Mandarin so I’m not an expert but here are the first shows and movies I’ve been getting into as I begin to understand more.
The only show I’ve watched so far is SpongeBob Squarepants in Mandarin: 海绵宝宝
I get this from torrents, but I don’t have subtitles for it. Luckily I know the first 3 seasons by heart. It is also available on some streaming sites/apps such as bilibili.
For movies, I really enjoyed Love Never Ends (2023) which has dual subtitles, both English and Mandarin which both appear at the same time and helps a lot. This movie has great production value, it’s quirky, and is a little artsy. I watched it on an international flight, it was in the “art house” category, although it is also a drama, romance, family movie. It’s kind of about a punk dude that has grown up and is trying to do his thing while aging within Chinese culture, so it teaches about culture as well.
Chunking Express (1994) is a comedy drama with fantastic reviews, but I haven’t watched it yet. The trailer looked cool and I’ll watch soon.
Only the River Flows (2023) was also on the international flight and was cool, it is a crime drama with good reviews.
Green Snake (1993) is an action fantasy movie that is a classic from the 90s. I’m trying to watch some 90s films so I can relate to Chinese people my age lol.
Luckily Green Snake is on YouTube. I watched it! https://youtu.be/oBjycaw5ulk?si=mjJJ8b1wwYd-aN_B
Is it a classic Chinese folk tale? I liked all the silly seduction moments and disliked all the moments men tried to bring the snakes down. I don’t see what made the snakes evil. There was no negative effect of them looking and behaving attractively. The way the men were trying to bring them down made me think they’d kill the men they attracted, but the snakes did nothing but treat them well. Prude people just need to enjoy being horny and let everyone else be horny.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
I’m trying to watch some 90s films so I can relate to Chinese people my age lol.
That is SO smart. I haven’t thought of that strategy to get on the level of people my age. Thank you for your recommendations.
Animal World 2018 is really good, it’s like a mind-game action thriller Squid Game where a communist takes on speculators using the power of dialectics
probably best to go in blind but here is the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6DzDGJoqUM
Nezha 2019 is also a really good animated kid’s movie
I found YouTube links in your comment. Here are links to the same videos on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Link 1:
Link 2:
There’s been multiple adaptations over the years but the Netflix release of Handsome Siblings was fun if you enjoy Wuxia, I don’t know about how effective it would be at learning Chinese though.
The Bad Kids is hands down the best tv show I’ve ever watched. Would recommend if you like crime thrillers, don’t mind child actors (they’re very good tho), and are a pretentious letterboxd type of person lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkQg0r93-eU&list=PLlCrV9TCfzMapVSZHRlsfXGnzmVqLz8LW
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
