Revolving around a family of bankers, Christina Yao's earnest historical drama Empire of Silver may not immediately invite sympathy for its protagonists. It is, however, a beautifully-shot feature debut, an ambitious production with a story that examines the mechanics of banking a century ago, as well as the consequences of unrequited love. Directed and co-written by Yao, an established playwright and stage director in Taiwan and the U.S., Empire of Silver begins by introducing Lord Kang (Tielin Zhang), the family head, who runs a bank with multiple branches and is a leading voice in a guild of bankers known as "the Wall Street of China." His four sons, identified solely by their birth order, run the gamut: First (Shi Da Sheng) is a charitable-minded,...
- 11/18/2011
- Screen Anarchy
Title: Empire of Silver Writer-director: Christina Yao Starring: Aaron Kwok, Tielin Zhang, Jennifer Tilly, Hao Lei There’s a special type of moviegoing misery to be found in self-important period pieces, and that’s just the sort of screaming boredom that Empire of Silver, the nearly impenetrable, emotionally arrested feature film debut of essayist and playwright Christina Yao, delivers. A drama focused on a powerful banking family in the late imperial/early Republican era of China, the movie rather gorgeously establishes its setting, but never locates a single compelling character or imparts any sense or sort of reality of what its subjects’ lives must truly have been like. Adapted from a thick, three-volume romance, Cheng Yi’s...
- 6/2/2011
- by bsimon
- ShockYa
Reviewed by Lydia Ianni
(May 2011)
Directed by: Christina Yao
Written by: Christina Yao and Cheng Yi
Starring: Aaron Kwok, Tielin Zhang and Hao Lei
Director Christina Yao’s debut feature “Empire of Silver,” based on the book by Cheng Yi, is set during China’s Boxer Rebellion. However, the uprising, in which Chinese nationalists fought against Western “spheres of influence” in China, is more of a backdrop for a story that hinges on family drama and romance.
The film’s narrative turns on the moral dilemma of the third-born son (Aaron Kwok) of a wealthy banking family in turn-of-the-century China. A series of mishaps finds him entrusted with the continued survival of the family line and wealth. However, he is torn between his duty to his family and his love of his father’s new wife (Hao Lei), a woman who had been previously engaged to him. Father and son have a tense relationship,...
(May 2011)
Directed by: Christina Yao
Written by: Christina Yao and Cheng Yi
Starring: Aaron Kwok, Tielin Zhang and Hao Lei
Director Christina Yao’s debut feature “Empire of Silver,” based on the book by Cheng Yi, is set during China’s Boxer Rebellion. However, the uprising, in which Chinese nationalists fought against Western “spheres of influence” in China, is more of a backdrop for a story that hinges on family drama and romance.
The film’s narrative turns on the moral dilemma of the third-born son (Aaron Kwok) of a wealthy banking family in turn-of-the-century China. A series of mishaps finds him entrusted with the continued survival of the family line and wealth. However, he is torn between his duty to his family and his love of his father’s new wife (Hao Lei), a woman who had been previously engaged to him. Father and son have a tense relationship,...
- 5/31/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Network
Reviewed by Lydia Ianni
(May 2011)
Directed by: Christina Yao
Written by: Christina Yao and Cheng Yi
Starring: Aaron Kwok, Tielin Zhang and Hao Lei
Director Christina Yao’s debut feature “Empire of Silver,” based on the book by Cheng Yi, is set during China’s Boxer Rebellion. However, the uprising, in which Chinese nationalists fought against Western “spheres of influence” in China, is more of a backdrop for a story that hinges on family drama and romance.
The film’s narrative turns on the moral dilemma of the third-born son (Aaron Kwok) of a wealthy banking family in turn-of-the-century China. A series of mishaps finds him entrusted with the continued survival of the family line and wealth. However, he is torn between his duty to his family and his love of his father’s new wife (Hao Lei), a woman who had been previously engaged to him. Father and son have a tense relationship,...
(May 2011)
Directed by: Christina Yao
Written by: Christina Yao and Cheng Yi
Starring: Aaron Kwok, Tielin Zhang and Hao Lei
Director Christina Yao’s debut feature “Empire of Silver,” based on the book by Cheng Yi, is set during China’s Boxer Rebellion. However, the uprising, in which Chinese nationalists fought against Western “spheres of influence” in China, is more of a backdrop for a story that hinges on family drama and romance.
The film’s narrative turns on the moral dilemma of the third-born son (Aaron Kwok) of a wealthy banking family in turn-of-the-century China. A series of mishaps finds him entrusted with the continued survival of the family line and wealth. However, he is torn between his duty to his family and his love of his father’s new wife (Hao Lei), a woman who had been previously engaged to him. Father and son have a tense relationship,...
- 5/31/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Magazine
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