Johnnie come lately

The award-winning 2003 police thriller PTU carries the distinctive stamp of Hong Kong director Johnnie To. The movie whose title stands for Police Tactical Unit, starts with a rather simple plot, set in a single night, but gradually becomes more convoluted. In PTU 2, which opens this weekend, To pairs with director Law Wing-cheong to deliver another explosive action package. Simon Yam, Maggie Siu and Lam Suet reprise their roles as members of a Police Tactical Unit.

In this sequel, the two tactical units clash, with group members trading insults and blows. But they are forced to put aside their differences to help catch a group of robbers.

Another Hollywood action thriller, Fast & Furious 4, directed by Justin Lin, re-groups Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Michelle Rodrigue. When a crime brings them back to L.A., escapee ex-con Dom Toretto re-ignites his dispute with agent Brian O'Conner. But forced to confront a common enemy, Dom and Brian must forge an uncertain new trust if they hope to handle him.

A tragic and beautiful love story set in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, Red River tells the story of A Tao, a mentally-challenged Vietnamese girl played by Zhang Jingchu. Based in a tiny border town between China and Vietnam in 1977, the film follows A Tao, who loses her mental balance after seeing her father killed by a mine planted during the war. Twenty-three years later, A Tao grows into a beautiful young woman with a childlike innocence that masks a simmering inner turmoil. Faced with uncertainty, she joins a tide of Vietnamese immigrant workers who cross the picturesque border into China in hopes of a better life.

Other films at the cinemas include:

The Counterfeiters

Winner of the Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards in 2008, the film fictionalizes a top-secret Nazi operation, codenamed Bernhard, during World War II.

Examination 1977

The movie follows a group of young people who work in a remote village of Dongbei and are eager to accept the challenge and fulfill their college dreams.

Ashes of Time Redux

This is Wong Kar-wai's restored edition of the 15-year-old classic Ashes of Time.

Chen Nan

(China Daily 04/18/2009 page7)