It's difficult to create a film that's fast paced, exciting, and aesthetically appealing without diluting its dialogue. Run Lola Run, directed and written by Tom Tykwer, is an enchanting balance of pace and narrative, creating a universal parable that leaps over cultural barriers. This is the story of young Lola (Franka Potente) and her boyfriend Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu). In the space of 20 minutes, they must come up with 100,000 deutsche marks to pay back a seedy gangster, who will be less than forgiving when he finds out that Manni incompetently lost his cash to an opportunistic vagrant. Lola, confronted with one obstacle after another, rides an emotional roller coaster in her high-speed efforts to help the hapless Manni—attempting to extract the cash first from her double-dealing father (appropriately a bank manager), and then by any means necessary. From this point nothing goes right for either protagonist, but just when you think you've figured out the movie, the director introduces a series of brilliant existential twists that boggle the mind. Tykwer uses rapid camera movements and innovative pauses to explore the theme of cause and effect. Accompanied by a pulse-pounding soundtrack, we follow Lola through every turn and every heartbreak as she and Manni rush forward on a collision course with fate. There were a variety of original and intelligent films released in 1999, but perhaps none were as witty and clever as this little gem—one of the best foreign films of the year. —Jeremy Storey

Strange thing about this trip. So much occurs in pairs. Tennis star Guy (Farley Granger) hates his unfaithful wife. Mysterious Bruno (Robert Walker) hates his father. How perfect for a playful proposal: I'll kill yours you kill mine. Now look at how Alfred Hitchcock reinforces the duality of human nature. The more you watch the more you'll see. "Isn't it a fascinating design?" the Master of Suspense often asked. Actually it's doubly fascinating. Hitchcock left behind two versions of Strangers on a Train. The original version (Side A) is an all-time thriller classic. A recently found longer prerelease British print (Side B) offers "a startling amplification of Bruno's flamboyance his homoerotic attraction to Guy and his psychotic personality" according to Bill Desowitz of Film Comment. The laying bare of Bruno's hidden nature along with the great set pieces (head-turning tennis match disintegrating carousel) and suspense as only Hitchcock can deliver makes for a first-class trip.Running Time: 101 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 085393197520

They were destined, if not doomed, to be together. She was the mill owner's battered bride; he was his overworked nephew. Out of their plight grew a profound and powerful secret love. Their hearts were free, but only murder could free the lovers from the tyranny of the mill owner. Or could it? Acclaimed throughout the world, this film almost didn't come to the screen at all. Chinese officials tried to hide Ju-Dou behind a wall of censorship - an act that prompted Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen and other major filmmakers to speak out in support of this remarkable film.

When the irresponsible Xu Fugui loses his family's fortune during a gambling spree he causes his loved ones incredible hardship. Fugui's father dies from a heart attack upon hearing the news and his pregnant wife abandons him. Unable to put bread on the table even for himself Fugui works as a street vender and when his wife notices his uncustomary humility she returns. Within a year Fugui desires to open a shop but is unable to raise the necessary funds. Instead of money the local loan shark gives him his old shadow puppets. Soon Fugui masters the art of puppetry which increases his paltry income — but also serves as propaganda for the imminent Communist Revolution.System Requirements:Running Time: 125 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 027616085269 Manufacturer No: M108526

Director Zhang Yimou brings the sumptuous visual style of his previous films (Raise the Red Lantern, Shanghai Triad) to the high-kicking kung fu genre. A nameless warrior (Jet Li, Romeo Must Die, Once Upon a Time in China) arrives at an emperor's palace with three weapons, each belonging to a famous assassin who had sworn to kill the emperor. As the nameless man spins out his story—and the emperor presents his own interpretation of what might really have happened—each episode is drenched in red, blue, white or another dominant color. Hero combines sweeping cinematography and superb performances from the cream of the Hong Kong cinema (Maggie Cheung, Irma Vep, Comrades: Almost a Love Story; Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, In the Mood for Love, Hard Boiled; and Zhang Ziyi, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). The result is stunning, a dazzling action movie with an emotional richness that deepens with every step. —Bret Fetzer

Zhang Yimou (Ju Dou) directed this fascinating visually formal 1991 film about an educated woman (Gong Li) who is sent off to become the newest wife of a feudal nobleman in 1920s China. Nearly isolated in his spooky palatial home she develops relationships with several of the other wives and slowly becomes aware of a hideous legacy of punishment toward more willful women. The film has a brittle and dry quality that is deliberate but also suggestive of Zhang working through various explorations of his own style (which he resolved in his next film The Story of Qiu Ju). Gong Li one of the world's great actresses is superbSystem Requirements:Running Time: 125 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: FOREIGN/LATIN Rating: PG UPC: 027616082626 Manufacturer No: M108262

Zhang Yimou's heartfelt feature about cultural displacement, grief, and reconciliation is a lovely and somewhat unexpected work from the director of Raise the Red Lantern and House of Flying Daggers. Japanese actor Ken Takakura stars as Gou-ichi Takata, a laconic man who lives in a fishing village and is estranged from his son. When word reaches him that his son is ill with cancer, Takata travels to Tokyo but is turned away. Takata learns that his son has a passion for rural Chinese folk opera, and he flies to mainland China to locate Li Jiamin (playing himself), an opera star who happens to be in jail at the moment. Takata's story reminds Li of his own sad disconnection from his young son, and Takata sets out to restore their relationship as a prelude to helping his own with Li's help. Zhang himself is unusually operatic here, with intense emotions flying around, prettified visions of nature, and characters—including prison guards and peasants—who seem idealized, both as folklore and even old, Maoist notions of cooperation. Zhang's longtime admirers will appreciate and understand this change of pace from a filmmaker whose relationship with Chinese officials has often been strained over content. But film fans less familiar with his body of work will enjoy Riding Alone as well. —Tom Keogh

Stills from Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (click for larger image)

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Not even close to his best work, Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou—far from a favorite of Chinese authorities, and frequently harassed and stymied in his career—creates an impressive-looking period piece in this gangland story set in the 1930s. Gong Li (Raise the Red Lantern) gives a colorful performance as a nightclub diva who is the mistress of a mob boss. Told from the point of view of a boy (Wang Xiaoxiao) sent by the gangster to wait on the arrogant singer, the story follows these characters over several days as they flee Shanghai to hide out in the countryside. A supreme stylist, Zhang in his best work (Ju Dou, The Story of Qui Ju) is not dependent on conventional story structures or expensive sets. But Shanghai Triad leans heavily on both, and while it is an interesting and enjoyable film—and not without subtle allusions to the political climate and culture in modern China—it is finally an unsatisfying experience. The saving graces are the performances, most of all that of the masterful, chameleonlike Gong Li. —Tom Keogh

The kick is never shown, but the entire film is based around it. It's winter in the remote Shaanxi province. Pregnant Qiu Ju (Gong Li, 2046) is married to laidback farmer Qinglai (Liu Pei Qi). When village chief Wang (Lei Lao Sheng) kicks him during an argument, she sets out to ensure that her husband receives medical attention—and justice. Clad in a bulky jacket, face partially obscured by a thick scarf, the strong-willed woman, joined by sister-in-law Meizi (Yang Liu Chun), travels far and wide to find someone who can coerce Wang to apologize (she asked, he refused). All agree the chief was in the wrong, but each authority with whom she meets hands her off to another. Along the way, the couple is offered financial compensation (for medical care and lost wages), but an apology is as elusive as a dragonfly in December. Taking cues from both Frank Capra (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) and Vittorio De Sica (Bicycle Thieves), Zhang Yimou (House of Flying Daggers) presents modern-day China as a country where bureaucrats run the show and the citizens—especially the women—must suffer the consequences. Fortunately, some are more persistent than others, and The Story of Qiu Ju is far from tragic. Just as their fifth pairing represents one of Yimou's rare contemporary efforts, the dressed-down title character is also an anomaly for Li, his real-life love at the time. The risk paid off and the result is one of their most cherished collaborations. —Kathleen C. Fennessy