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I’ve seen most of the films on this list, and what strikes me the most is how not one filmmaker can have two films in it. I’d think Zhang Yimou could easily have more than a single film in it, same with Chen Kaige and since it’s dipping into Hong Kong, how about another Wong Kar Wei film? Although they take on another tone, not one John Woo film which revolutionized action films? Drunken Master? Once Upon a Time in China? The list is ambitious in idea, but overall, this should just be a top 20, or don’t bother including Hong Kong and Taiwan. They could easily have their own lists. (whatsonxiamen – Top 10)
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Chen Kaige’s latest movie has the impeccable look and measured pacing of a historical epic but the intensity and feel of I Spit on Your Grave or Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. Roughly divided into two, the first section of Sacrifice comes across like Shakespearean tragedy, with double crossing, throne seizing, and the massacring of a scapegoated royal family. It’s as beautiful as it is brutal, with just enough bloody swordplay to balance the layers of plot twists.

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