One of the most acclaimed Chinese filmmakers of the late 20th century, award-winning director Zhang Yimou produced a series of intensely moving period dramas about the political and emotional inequalities suffered by women in Chinese history, including "Ju Do" (1990), "Raise the Red Lantern" (1992) and "To Live" (1994) before scoring international hits with the martial arts thrillers "Hero" (2002) and "House of Flying Daggers" (2004). Part of China's acclaimed "Fifth Generation" of filmmakers, whose work flew in the face of government control over how movies were made, Zhang emerged as the most successful of the group, thanks to his early dramas which all featured the sensuous actress Gong Li as their long-suffering but resolute heroines. After a brief fallow period in the late 1990s, Zhang emerged again with "Hero," a lavishly expensive historical epic with martial arts star Jet Li in its lead. Its phenomenal success allowed Zhang to move between major efforts like "House of Flying Daggers" and "Curse of the Golden Flower" (2006) and smaller fare like "A Woman, A Gun and a Noodle Shop" (2009), a screwball adaptation of "Blood Simple" (1984). "The Flowers of War" (2011) marked his return to grand scale filmmaking, as well as his commitment to telling honest stories about the lives of people under oppression, both from their circumstances and from within their hearts.
Highest rated movies
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Yimou Zhang
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
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No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Article 20 | Director | - | 2024 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Beijing 2022 | Executive Producer | - | 2024 |
No Score Yet | | Under the Light | Director | - | 2023 |
94% | | Full River Red | Director, Screenwriter | - | 2023 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Snipers | Director | - | 2022 |
80% | | Cliff Walkers | Director, Screenwriter | - | 2021 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Wisdom Tooth | Producer | - | 2020 |
100% | | One Second | Director, Screenwriter | - | 2020 |
94% | | Shadow | Director, Screenwriter | $521.4K | 2018 |
35% | | The Great Wall | Director | $45.1M | 2016 |
No Score Yet | | Suddenly Seventeen | Producer | - | 2016 |
89% | | Coming Home | Director | $377.4K | 2014 |
41% | | The Flowers of War | Director | $308.2K | 2011 |
No Score Yet | | Under the Hawthorn Tree | Director | - | 2010 |
34% | | A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop | Director | $190.7K | 2009 |
65% | | Curse of the Golden Flower | Director, Writer | $6.6M | 2006 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Curse of the Golden Flower | Director | - | 2006 |
80% | | Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles | Director | $251.6K | 2005 |
87% | | House of Flying Daggers | Director, Producer | $11.0M | 2004 |
94% | | Hero | Director, Writer, Producer | $53.6M | 2002 |
72% | | Happy Times | Director | $239.1K | 2001 |
77% | | The Turandot Project | Unknown (Character) | - | 2000 |
89% | | The Road Home | Director | $1.3M | 1999 |
96% | | Not One Less | Director | $589.1K | 1999 |
No Score Yet | | You hua hao hao shuo (Keep Cool) | Director | - | 1998 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Dragon Town Story | Executive Producer, Producer | - | 1997 |
90% | | Shanghai Triad | Director | $2.1M | 1995 |
87% | | To Live | Director | $2.2M | 1994 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | HUOZHE | Director | - | 1994 |
87% | | The Story of Qiu Ju | Director | $25.8K | 1992 |
97% | | Raise the Red Lantern | Director | $22.6K | 1991 |
100% | | Ju Dou | Director | $10.3K | 1990 |
No Score Yet | | A Terracotta Warrior | Tian Fong (Character) | - | 1989 |
85% | | Red Sorghum | Director | - | 1988 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Old Well | Shun (Character), Cinematographer | - | 1986 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Old Well | Wangquan Shun (Character) | - | 1986 |
100% | | Yellow Earth | Cinematographer | - | 1984 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | One and Eight | Cinematographer | - | 1983 |