CHINA – rarefilmm | The Cave of Forgotten Films

BALZAC ET LA PETITE TAILLEUSE CHINOISE (2002)

Jon W. — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 09:51:48 +0000

Dai Sijie’s autobiographical third feature, adapted from his autobiographical first novel, is a visually assured reconstruction of memory and time. The story details the experiences of two friends, Luo and Ma, as they try to survive a Maoist reeducation camp in a remote mountain village during the Cultural Revolution. Outmaneuvering the party official who watches over them, they pursue the beautiful granddaughter of the village tailor, meeting with her secretly to read books by outlawed writers. In their most radical act, they persuade the villagers that the Mozart pieces Luo plays on his violin are songs about the revolution.

Director: Sijie Dai. AKA Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
Writers: Sijie Dai (novel and screenplay), Nadine Perront.
Stars: Xun Zhou, Ye Liu, Kun Chen, Shuangbao Wang, Zhijun Cong, Hongwei Wang, Xiong Xiao, Zuohui Tang, Wei Chen, Tianlu Chen, Qingyun Fan, Jie Min, He Zhang, Yukun Xu, Lina Mei, Jing Fang, Li Peng, Heng Fei Zhao, Yao Liu, Yulin Chen, Chun Hua Xu, Fang Zong Zhao, Wa Su, Quilène Boileux, Dandan Yang, Guy-Pierre Bennet.
Cinematographer: Jean-Marie Dreujou.
Composer: Pujian Wang.

2003 Golden Globes – Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.

⇓ DOWNLOAD OPTIONS ⇓

ENCODE:
MP4 | 1.56 GB | 720×436 | 25 FPS | 2000 kb/s | AAC 93 kb/s
Languages: Mandarin, French | Subtitles: English (hard)

⇒ DL via GOFILE

⇒ DL via 1FICHIER
(DO NOT USE WITHOUT ADBLOCKER)

SOURCE FILE:
MKV | 1.22 GB | 720×436 | 25 FPS | 1552 kb/s | AAC 93 kb/s
Languages: Mandarin, French | Subtitles: English, Chinese (soft)

⇒ DL via GOFILE

⇒ DL via 1FICHIER
(DO NOT USE WITHOUT ADBLOCKER)

WUYONG (2007)

Jon W. — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 10:19:47 +0000

Award-winning director Jia Zhangke’s documentary Useless weaves a three-part tale about the Chinese clothing industry. The documentary opens in the textile factories of Guangdong, where workers hunch over massive machines day in day out for low pay, before moving to Paris where fashion designer Ma Ke is unveiling her new collection of organic, avant-garde, haute couture designs. Running counter to the clothing industry’s culture of mass production and reproduction, her new line “Wu Yong”, meaning “Useless”, lends the film its title, and forms the heart of the documentary. The third act of the film travels to a tailor shop in a dusty mining town in Shanxi. Using a down-to-earth montage of people and places, Useless brings out the significance of clothing, and the different faces and sectors of modern China.

Director: Zhangke Jia. AKA 无用 / Useless
Stars: Ke Ma.
Cinematographers: Zhangke Jia, Nelson Lik-wai Yu.
Composer: Giong Lim.

⇓ DOWNLOAD OPTIONS ⇓

ENCODE:
MP4 | 1.27 GB | 720×480 | 23.976 FPS | 2000 kb/s | AAC 161 kb/s
Language: Shanxi, Cantonese, Mandarin, English & French | Subtitles: English (hard)

⇒ DL via FILES

⇒ DL via 1FICHIER
(DO NOT USE WITHOUT ADBLOCKER)

SOURCE FILE:
MKV | 1.28 GB | 720×480 | 23.976 FPS | 2000 kb/s | AC3 192 kb/s
Language: Shanxi, Cantonese, Mandarin, English & French | Subtitles: English (soft)

⇒ DL via FILES

⇒ DL via 1FICHIER
(DO NOT USE WITHOUT ADBLOCKER)

HUANGHE JUELIAN (1999)

Jon W. — Sun, 24 Dec 2023 23:22:44 +0000

The film tells the story of a grounded American pilot during the Second World War who learns about the noble spirit of the Chinese poeple when he is rescued by the communist-led Chinese army after an emergency landing near the Great Wall. On the way to the Communist base, the pilot falls in love with a girl soldier whose lingering memory of being raped by the Japanese makes her a determined fighter. Half a century later, the American pilot returns to the Yellow River to pay his respects to the native people who rescued him.

Director: Xiaoning Feng. AKA Lover’s Grief Over the Yellow River / 黄河绝恋 / 黃河絕戀
Writer: Xiaoning Feng.
Stars: Jing Ning, Paul Kersey, Xinjun Wang, Tumen, Ming Li.

⇓ DOWNLOAD OPTIONS ⇓

MP4 | 2.33GB | 1920×1072 | 25fps | 2955kb/s | AAC 192kb/s
Language: Mandarin | Subtitles: English (hard)

⇒ DL via FILES

⇒ DL via 1FICHIER
(DO NOT USE WITHOUT ADBLOCKER)

Pretty good looking HD copy of this Chinese film but unfortunately with hardcoded English subtitles which can be hard to read at times in scenes with white/bright backgrounds, still a nice upgrade compared to other copies of this film out there.

DONGCHUN DE RIZI (1993)

Jon W. — Tue, 16 May 2023 12:53:41 +0000

The Days follows the life of Dong and Chun, married artists who have recently graduated from the Beijing Art Institute. Living meagerly in the hope of making enough money off their works, it soon becomes obvious to everyone but themselves that the marriage has begun to die.

Director: Xiaoshuai Wang. AKA The Days / 冬春的日子
Writer: Xiaoshuai Wang.
Stars: Xiaodong Liu, Ye Lou, Hong Yu.
Cinematographer: Jie Liu, Di Wu.
Composer: Liang Hepin.

⇒ DOWNLOAD THIS FILM ⇐

Many thanks to zen xiu @VK for uploading this English subtitled copy of this very rare Chinese film, this was a great find and I couldn’t believe it had been online on VK of all places for 2 years! The only other copy you can find on the entire internet of this film is a low quality TVRip from Italian television with hardcoded Italian subtitles, this copy also has hardcoded subtitles but in English, it seems to be sourced from a BBC2 broadcast of the film during either 1995 or 1996 when they did the “BBC 100”, a celebration of the Cententary of Cinema, the other films they showed during this long celebration can be found here (thanks to desdemoor for the list!) This copy that was uploaded first on VK had very poor audio unfortunately (lots of noise), luckily the TVRip from RAI TRE had the same framerate and almost the same duration so I was able to sync the better audio from the Italian TVRip into this better quality copy, because of this I had to cut short the end but it’s overall a much better viewing experience, hope you guys will like it, great film.

YOU HUA HAO HAO SHUO (1997)

Jon W. — Sun, 20 Mar 2022 14:23:17 +0000

A spurned lover seeks a rich man for revenge. A random onlooker — who witnessed the public assault committed by the rich man against the lover — seeks for monetary compensation for his smashed computer. The lover’s and the onlooker’s lives intertwine as two people collaborate. The onlooker’s fate faces an unpredictable turn and mirrors the lover’s life.

Director: Yimou Zhang. AKA Keep Cool 有话好好说 / 有話好好說
Writer: Ping Shu (novel & screenplay).
Stars: Wen Jiang, Baotian Li, Ying Qu, Xinyi Liu.
Cinematographer: Yue Lü.
Composer: Tianshuo Zang.

1997 Venice Film Festival – Nominated for the Gold Lion.

⇒ DOWNLOAD THIS FILM ⇐

ASHES OF TIME (1994) [THEATRICAL CUT]

Jon W. — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 13:26:20 +0000

In ancient China, on the edge of a vast desert, swordsman Ou-yang Feng lives the life of a vagabond, controlling a network of deadly assassins. Pitiless and cynical, his heart has long been wounded by a love he neglected then lost. But as seasons, friends and enemies come and go, he begins to reflect back upon the origin of his solitude.

Director: Wong Kar-Wai.
Writers: Wong Kar-Wai, Louis Cha (novel).
Stars: Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Brigitte Lin, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Jacky Cheung, Carina Lau, Maggie Cheung, Charlie Yeung.
Cinematographers: Christopher Doyle, Pun Leung Kwan.
Composers: Frankie Chan, Roel A. García.

⇓ DOWNLOAD OPTIONS ⇓

ENCODE:
MP4 | 1.87 GB | 1400×664 | 23.976 FPS | 2500 kb/s | AAC 192 kb/s
Language: Cantonese | Subtitles: English (hard)

⇒ DL via GOFILE

SOURCE FILE:
MKV | 1.72 GB | 700×332 | 23.976 FPS | 2277 kb/s | AC3 192 kb/s
Language: Cantonese | Subtitles: English (soft)

⇒ DL via GOFILE

LIU LIAN PIAO PIAO (2000)

Jon W. — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 13:18:40 +0000

Durian Durian is a two-part film split between Mongkok’s Portland Street in Hong Kong and the north-eastern border region of mainland China. Ah Fan, the young girl from Little Cheung, lives in the former with her poor family, originally from Shenzhen, who illegally overstayed their three month visas to scrape together an income washing dishes and selling cigarettes. Fan meets Yan, a prostitute from the mainland, in a laneway behind Portland Street. They become friends after Yan’s pimp is assaulted in front of Fan by an assailant wielding that most dangerous of weapons, a heavy, sharply spiney-skinned durian fruit. Yan returns to the north-east to invest what she has earned after her three month Hong Kong visa expires.

Director: Fruit Chan. AKA 榴槤飄飄 / Durian Durian
Writer: Fruit Chan, Wai-Keung Chan, Zhi Min Sheng.
Stars: Qin Hai-Lu, Mak Wai-Fan, Mak Suet-Man, Yeung Mei-Kam, Wong Ming, Yung Wai-Yiu, Li Shuang, Bai Xiao-Ming, Hu Qing-Yong, Lu Zhi-Han, Yang Xiao-Li, Along, Chang Kin-Yung.
Cinematographer: Wah-Chuen Lam.
Composers: Hing-Cheung Chu, Wah-Chuen Lam.

2000 Venice Film Festival – Nominated for the Golden Lion.

⇒ DOWNLOAD THIS FILM ⇐

BEIJING DE FENG HEN DA (2000)

Jon W. — Tue, 24 Nov 2020 06:41:11 +0000

Debut feature film from one of the most widely recognized directors from China’s “New Generation” of filmmakers, Ju Anqi. Filmed in Spring 1999, a gonzo camera crew roams the streets of China’s capital, asking random passersby, “Is the wind strong in Beijing?” This ambiguous question provokes a startling variety of responses that expose social and cultural anxieties within contemporary China.

Director: Ju Anqi.