Offices will be closed, no one should be working.
It’s that crazy time of the year where every Chinese family deck themselves in red and the sales of mandarin oranges rocket to outer space. Well, not everyone spends their Chinese New Year visiting relatives and gambling themselves silly. The shopping malls are open but not all shops are. Thank goodness for the cinemas. Every Chinese New Year, the movie industry rolls out a few “贺岁片 (he sui pian)” - that is, movies to usher in the new year. These movies seem to grow in numbers through the years.
Here are five 贺岁片 to catch this Chinese New Year:
1) Long Long Time Ago 我们的故事 (local movie)
“Long Long Time Ago Movie Poster” by Source (WP:NFCC#4). Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia.
The story spans from 1965 to the early 1970s. Heavily pregnant Zhao Di, the unwanted second wife of an older man, was chased out by her husband’s family and forced to return to her own family. She gave birth to a pair of twins, Shun Fatt and Su-mei. As Su-mei had two moles on her face, which was said to be bad luck, she decided to give her up due to the pressure of wanting to build a better life for the rest of her family. Her father, under the advice of a match-maker, married her off to a coffee shop owner Xiao Qie, but after his unfortunate death, she was chased out the door with five young children to look after. With Zhao Di’s indomitable spirit, and with the help of her family, they went through adversities, witnessed the changes through the years, and accompanied every step of the nation`s growth in its early years.
Cast: Aileen Tan, Mark Lee and Wang Lei as the main casts.
2) From Vegas To Macau III 赌城风云 III
A grand wedding ceremony is being held at a resort hotel in Macau. It is the wedding of Ken’s daughter, Rainbow and his protégé, Vincent. Ken’s close friends, Vic and Mark are also on the guest list. During the ceremony, Mark receives a call from his buddy, Michael Chan, warning Mark that someone wants to kill Ken. And the intrigue begins !
Cast: Chow Yun-fat, Andy Lau, Nick Cheung and Li Yuchun, with special appearances by Jacky Cheung and Carina Lau.
3) The Mermaid 美人鱼
The Mermaid (Chinese: 美人鱼) is an upcoming Chinese science fiction comedy film directed by Stephen Chow.
Hin’s real estate project involved reclamation of the sea, threatening the livelihood of the residents who relied on the sea to make a living. Bearing family secrets, Shan was dispatched to stop Hin. During their encounters, they fall in love with each other. Even though Hin stopped the reclamation plan out of his love for Shan, Shan got injured in an accident and vanished into the sea.
Cast: Lin Yun, Deng Chao, Show Lo, Kris Wu Yifan, Zhang Yuqi, Li Shangzheng, Zhang Mei’e
4) The Monkey King 2 西游记之孙悟空三打白骨精
In this sequel of the 2014 box office hit The Monkey King, the White Boned Demon (Baigujing) played by Gong Li constantly attempts to prise Tang Sanzang for his meat, thus forcing the quartet to delay the journey on the quest for sutra. Whilst Tang was involved in a misunderstanding with Monkey King (Sun Wukong), White Boned Demon stole the opportunity to manipulate Tang, who is vulnerable without the help of his skilled disciple…
Cast: Aaron Kwok, Gong Li, Feng Shaofeng and Xiao Shenyang
5) Let’s Eat 開飯啦!
LET’S EAT! depicts how the head chef Dai Hung and owner’s daughter Rosemary of AH YONG CAFÉ set aside their differences and embark on a quest to save the once reputable restaurant. The movie will showcase the many tantalizing aspects of Southeast Asian cuisines, do expect plenty of banter and sparks between the movie characters!
Cast: Chapman To, Aimee Chan
Source: Wikipedia, Golden Village