No better and more fun way to improve listening skills than watching Chinese movies.
We reviewed quite a few that are relevant for Chinese language learners on Chinese Movies Archives - Flexi Classes but there are SO MANY.
Would love to hear which other Chinese movies or TV series everyone enjoys watching and we should review next?
One of my favourites is the 2017 movie: Cook up a storm. ( 决战食神 lit: Clash of the Culinary Gods) about two battling chefs.
It can be found in good quality with Mandarin and English subtitles on Cook Up a Storm Eng Sub - YouTube
If I’m going for a film, I’d say Infernal Affairs (无间道). I’ve not seen the Hollywood version, but the Chinese version was one of the first Chinese films that I saw at the cinema and it left an impression.
For TV programs, I could give a list. I’ve got several period dramas that I like watching on the Rakuten Viki app at any one time. The plots are fairly unbelievable - or else ancient China was very dangerous with a lot of murder and intrigue(!) - but the costumes and sets are amazing.
Yesterday I have watched my first C-movie in full length, Chinese with English subtitles. The wish dragon. (netflix) A typical 3 wishes fairy tale cartoon, in a typical Chinese setting.
I was happy to recognize quite a lot of my vocabulary.
Oh so cool! I am still yet to watch anything in Chinese… I used to watch cartoons in English back when I was learning it but I was already at least B1. Seems like I just won’t understand anything in Chinese if I watch now.
I proudly present my first Mandarin “film” where I understood every single word because I have already learnt them all with LTL.
The needed vocab, and note that 是 is pronounced more like si4 here.
爸, Dad
妈, Mum
这是 (name). Zhe4shi4 , this is
你是 , ni3 shi4, you are/are you
哪里 = na3li3, where
毕业 bi4ye4 graduated
住, zhu4, live
不错,bu2cuo4,not bad=good
服务员,fu2wu4yuan2, waiter
点菜, dian3cai4, to order food
I don’t have a favorite C-movie since my exposure to Chinese cinema has been really limited but I watched “A Sun” today and really enjoyed it and understood many phrases!
My personal favorite is probably Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. It both epitomizes and breaks down Jianghu fantasy stories, with stunning acting and martial arts from everyone, great cinematography, and the score from Tan Dun from Yo-yo Ma.
…I also really liked Infernal Affairs. I thought it was a perfect thriller, and Tony Leung and Andy Lau are electric together.
I just finished watching Animal World (which is on netflix) and it is really good! Definitely recommend - would recommend to non-Chinese speakers too just based on the film. Weirdly, also stars Micheal Douglas for a while
I watched Tangled in Chinese and the animated Mulan too. Since I’ve watched those a lot in English since I was a kid I could expect the dialogue and put the Chinese subtitles on so I could see the Chinese characters. There are a whole bunch of movies including the Star Wars films and Boba Fett and Mandalorian on Disney+ in Chinese.
I can’t say if their dubs are accurate or not cause I’m very much a newbie but it was kind of fun to listen to movies I know very well.
Hope that gives you lore options too
My favourite movie by far is 后来的我们,English name: Us and Them, about two people trying (struggling!) to make it Beijing.
Aside from being a great tool for listening practice, the story is amazing and even if I wasn’t studying Mandarin I’d have loved the movie anyway - would totally recommend giving it a watch! I’ve watched it 3 or 4 times already haha