New Chinese Cinema (Images of Asia)

Rating:
Summary: a good introductory guide
Review: For each of the directors covered, the authors provide a short bio and sysnopses of the director's most influential works. Each director's influence on Chinese cinema is briefly discussed. Authors also track how each director's style changed from film to film. The period covered is from around 1984 to 1997, 1997 being when the book was written, which means newer films such as Chen's "The Emperor and the Assassin" and Zhang's "Not One Less" are not covered.

The photos and stills included are of high quality. Unfortunately, the interviews conducted by the authors are not included. More in-depth analyses of some of the films here can be found in J. Silbergeld's "China into Film" (which unfortunately has very poor quality stills).