Up the Yangtze

This documentary examine China’s rapidly changing economy by focusing on the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. For the government, the dam stands as a symbol of progress; but it displaces hundreds of families during its creation. Following local teenagers Chen Bo Yu and Yu Shi, who work on one of the Western cruise lines that sails up the Yangtze near the dam, the film details the friction in Chinese society as its citizens struggle with the realities of its new consumer capitalism.

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON PG13

Legendary martial artist Li Mu Bai is tracking the murderer of his master. The poised and self-assured Li can handle anything — except his feelings for lithe, pantherish Yu Shu Lien. Jen Yu, the tremulous and spoiled daughter of the Province’s governor, is also fascinated by Shu Lien’s glamorous life: that a woman can have so many adventures and such freedom is marvelous to her. Though the refined Jen is soon to be married off into respectability, she harbors a sinister plan. By night she transforms into a masked and cunning thief, out to steal the Green Destiny, an invincible blade once wielded by Li. At the same time, Li embarks on his own quest to recover the missing sword, possibly the key to his master’s murder.

SHOWER – PG13

Shenzhen businessman, Da Ming, goes home to Beijing when he thinks his father has died. He finds his father hard at work at the family’s bathhouse (the false message was a ruse of Da’s mentally-handicapped, exuberant brother, Er Ming, to get Da home). Da stays a couple days, observing his father being social director, marriage counselor, and dispute mediator for his customers and a boon companion to Er. Da is caught between worlds: the decaying district of his childhood and the booming south where he now lives with a wife who’s not met his family. When Da realizes his father’s health is failing and the district is slated for razing, he must take stock of family and future. Written by (IMBD.COM)