Holiday films

Moviegoers will have a wide range of films to choose from during the September 30 to October 7 holiday. Below is a selection of films that will be screened during the National Day Golden Week.

Imported films for everyone

Three imported movies that cater to a wide range of tastes will debut during the holiday: Looper (from the US) will be released on September 28, Sammy's Adventure: The Secret Passage (Le Voyage extraordinaire de Samy, from Belgium) will be released on September 30 and Taken 2 (from France) will be released on October 7.

Imported movies, especially Hollywood films, have been doing particularly well in China's market. According to the 2011-12 China Film Industry Report by the China Film Association, imported movies accounted for about 65 percent of China's box office revenue during the first six months of 2012, and nine out of the top 10 most watched films during this period were Hollywood blockbusters.

Looper is an American science fiction film that was written and directed by Rian Johnson, and stars Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. In the film, a criminal gang obtains the means to travel back in time. When the mob wants to kill someone, they send their targets 30 years back in time, where hired guns - loopers - like Joe (Gordon-Levitt), wait to execute the task. One day, however, Joe is tasked with killing a future version of himself (Willis). The older Joe escapes, which leads his employers to come after the younger Joe as he hunts his future self. Looper will likely be a hit with Chinese film-watchers because it stars Gordon-Levitt, whose other films Inception and The Dark Knight Rises have been very popular here.

Chinese audiences rarely get to watch an animated film made by studios other than Disney and Pixar, so Sammy's Adventures: The Secret Passage, made by Belgium's nWave Pictures, should provide a welcome change. The film was directed by Ben Stassen, nWave Pictures' founder, and features voiceovers by Melanie Griffith, Isabelle Fuhrman and Yuri Lowenthal. The film tells the story of Sammy (Yuri Lowenthal), a sea turtle hatched in 1959 that spends the next 50 years travelling as the world is being changed by global warming. The movie should prove popular with children.

Taken 2 is a 2012 action thriller film directed by French director Olivier Megaton, which stars Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen. The film is a sequel to the 2008 film Taken, and its plot focuses on a retired government agent Bryan Mills (Neeson) and his ex-wife Lenore (Janssen), who are captured by the father of the kidnapper Marko Hoxha. Hoxha was killed when Mills was rescuing his daughter Kim (Grace) in Taken. In Taken 2, Kim must rescue her parents. Taken 2 will appeal to action lovers and moviegoers who liked Taken.

Action and drama

Although domestic movies are not doing as well as foreign movies in China's cinemas, the number of Chinese films being released is increasing. Some of the Chinese productions that will be released next week include The Assassins, which will be in cinemas from September 26; Tai Chi Zero, which will debut on September 27; and Dangerous Liaisons, which will also be released on September 27.

The Assassins, also known as Bronze Sparrow Platform, was directed by Zhao Linshan and stars Hong Kong actor Chou Yun-fat. The Assassins is a historical film set in China during the Three Kingdoms period (220-280). The film focuses on the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD) military general Cao Cao (Chou), who in the later stage of his life threatens to take over the Han Empire. The Bronze Sparrow Platform (tong quetai in Chinese), is a terrace that Cao Cao built in 210 in the ancient city of Ye (today's Linzhang, in Hebei Province) as a display of power. The Assassins is a medieval war epic that will please those who like military films and historical dramas.

Tai Chi Zero is a new 3-D martial arts film that was directed by Stephen Fung and stars Feng Shaofeng, Eddie Peng, Daniel Wu and Yuan Xiaochao. This film was the first movie Fung directed after he formed a new film company, Diversion Pictures, with his friend Daniel Wu, who stars in this film. The film is the only Chinese movie that was shown at the 69th Venice Film Festival earlier this month. The film tells the story of Yang Luchan, who travels to Chen Village to learn a powerful form of Tai Chi. The villagers are forbidden from teaching outsiders Tai Chi, but when a person from the village's past returns with plans to build a railroad through the village at any cost, the villagers realize that they have no choice but to put their faith in Yang. Tai Chi Hero, the sequel to Tai Chi Zero, will be released on October 25. Both films will satisfy martial arts and fantasy film aficionados.

Dangerous Liaisons is a drama film that was directed by South Korean director Hur Jin-ho, and was co-produced by China's Zonbo Media and Singapore's Homerun Asia. The film stars mainland actress Zhang Ziyi, Hong Kong actress Cecilia Cheung and South Korean actor, Jang Dong-gun. This remake of Dangerous Liaisons is set in 1930s Shanghai and focuses on the complicated relationship a Shanghainese playboy Xie Yifan (Jang) has with his ex-girlfriend, the wealthy femme fatale Mo Jieyi (Cheung), and the revenge-driven seduction wager they have on a young widow Du Yufen (Zhang). With a top-notch cast, Dangerous Liaisons is an enjoyable cross-cultural remake of a classic plot.