A Tale of Three Cities

2015 ‘三城记’ Directed by Mabel Cheung

A former spy in the Chinese Nationalist Party falls for an opium-dealing widow, as China is ravaged by war and revolution.

Lau Ching-Wan Tang Wei Qin Hailu Jing Boran Huang Jue Elaine Jin Li Jianyi Jiao Gang Philip Chan Yan-Kin

130 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Michael Strenski ★★★★

Here's the story
Of a lovely lady
Who was bringing up two very lovely girls
They both had eyes of sorrow
Like their mother
It was a changing world
It's the story
Of a man named Daolong
Who was busy with two boys and their grandpa
They were four men
Living all together
Yet they were all alone
'Til the one day when the lady met this fellow
And they knew they needed an escape plan
That these two must somehow get to Hong Kong
And eventually give birth to Jackie Chan
Review by Sean Gilman ★★★★

A vastly more successful Hong Kong romance (than It's Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong) comes from the team of Mabel Cheung and Alex Law (she directs, he produces, they both write). Based on the life of Jackie Chan’s parents (though the story ends long before he was born) A Tale of Three Cities stars Tang Wei and Lau Ching-wan (weirdly billed as “Sean Lau”, which I haven’t seen him marketed as in years, a sign perhaps that the film is trying for a North American release) as a couple kept desperately apart by war (first against the Japanese, then against the Communists). In a Brady Bunch-like set-up, Tang has two young daughters and a husband she didn’t care for who…
Review by Arthur Tuoto ★★★★½

Como dá gosto assistir um épico feito com paixão mesmo. Mabel Cheung concilia muito bem esse contexto de uma tragédia coletiva com um drama romântico vivificador. Um drama de pequenos gestos e consequências inimagináveis. E o jeito como ela consegue abordar isso visualmente e narrativamente no filme é incrível, essa sutileza implícita no imponente, esse movimento de hoje que pode custar o amanhã. A saga de um como a saga de todos.
Review by Filipe Furtado ★★★½ 1

A pretty unsual mix of the sweeping epic and a rather specific survivalist need. More visual assured than most Mabel Cheung's films and both Lau Ching Wan and Tang Wei are terrific. The glossy surface is necessary for current big budget Chinese cinema, but this remains very focused.
Review by nicole ★★★★

tang wei as an opium dealer
Review by Melissa Tamminga ★★★½

VIFF. Twitter review placeholder.
Melodrama in all the right ways (see, Dickens). But epic (I'll see your two cities and raise them one).
Review by doinkdedoink ★★★

I knew I recognised the girl in this... she’s tang wei who was the iconic badass in tony leung-starrer lust and caution, we have no choice but to stan. mabel cheung has me intrigued with this well-directed film, and I’m curious to check out more of her work. first heard of this film in my chinese cinema course two semesters ago (but I was weirdly expecting it to be more of a documentary which it was the complete opposite of). again the only reason it kinda lost me halfway was the melodrama... way too overdone. I don’t know how and why it bothers me I literally grew up watching bollywood lol. I guess it’s cause this film has a great story and has great potential.
Review by RyanSmallwood

Nice historical epic with well realized period detail. Lau Ching-wan and Tang Wei bring a lot of liveliness to their parts and their scenes together are really great. Most of the film is spent with them apart unfortunately, and these parts didn't work as well for me.
Apparently some of the details of their lives of were watered down for this big production, and it makes me more curious to check out Mabel Cheung's earlier documentary on them.
Review by Felix Huang ½

Absolutely piece of shit. Really, just do not watch it.
Review by Jeremy Nyhuis ★★ 1

I haven't seen Mabel Cheung's Traces of a Dragon, from which I assume she drew inspiration to make this biopic on the extraordinary lives of Charles and Lee-Lee Chan (parents of Jackie), but I have to hope it's more honest and compelling than this hodgepodge of history, which goes to some ridiculous lengths to demonize the KMT and deflect criticism of the PRC, despite the fact that the latter was largely responsible for causing the turmoil the film depicts. (The closing epilogue is a case in point, which shows Charles's sons, left in mainland, running after a train in hopes of seeing their father again, while never mentioning the persecution that they experienced under Mao's Cultural Revolution.) As a consequence,…

Recent reviews

Review by nicole ★★★★

tang wei as an opium dealer
Review by doinkdedoink ★★★

I knew I recognised the girl in this... she’s tang wei who was the iconic badass in tony leung-starrer lust and caution, we have no choice but to stan. mabel cheung has me intrigued with this well-directed film, and I’m curious to check out more of her work. first heard of this film in my chinese cinema course two semesters ago (but I was weirdly expecting it to be more of a documentary which it was the complete opposite of). again the only reason it kinda lost me halfway was the melodrama... way too overdone. I don’t know how and why it bothers me I literally grew up watching bollywood lol. I guess it’s cause this film has a great story and has great potential.
Review by RyanSmallwood

Nice historical epic with well realized period detail. Lau Ching-wan and Tang Wei bring a lot of liveliness to their parts and their scenes together are really great. Most of the film is spent with them apart unfortunately, and these parts didn't work as well for me.
Apparently some of the details of their lives of were watered down for this big production, and it makes me more curious to check out Mabel Cheung's earlier documentary on them.
Review by Aphastral ★★★

Worth seeing for the strong cast, led by Tang Wei.
Review by Manuel Uberti ★★★

An epic melodrama which works thanks to the focused direction from Mabel Cheung and a couple of impeccable performances from the leads.
However, it really abuses the drama here and there, trying a bit too hard to find your tears.
Review by SNSDPINCH ★★½

자꾸만 흩어지는 스포트라이트.
Review by Lang LIU ★★

安徽段落的景观性也太强了。电影的大多数时刻都是为了给10个鸡蛋下饭，然后从上海一路坐到广州。
Review by Ye Yang ★★½

A Chinese version of "Once Upon a time in China"
Review by mllelau ★★½

The songs and lyrics are beautiful but I don't like the story much.
Review by Jeremy Nyhuis ★★ 1

I haven't seen Mabel Cheung's Traces of a Dragon, from which I assume she drew inspiration to make this biopic on the extraordinary lives of Charles and Lee-Lee Chan (parents of Jackie), but I have to hope it's more honest and compelling than this hodgepodge of history, which goes to some ridiculous lengths to demonize the KMT and deflect criticism of the PRC, despite the fact that the latter was largely responsible for causing the turmoil the film depicts. (The closing epilogue is a case in point, which shows Charles's sons, left in mainland, running after a train in hopes of seeing their father again, while never mentioning the persecution that they experienced under Mao's Cultural Revolution.) As a consequence,…
Review by Arthur Tuoto ★★★★½

Como dá gosto assistir um épico feito com paixão mesmo. Mabel Cheung concilia muito bem esse contexto de uma tragédia coletiva com um drama romântico vivificador. Um drama de pequenos gestos e consequências inimagináveis. E o jeito como ela consegue abordar isso visualmente e narrativamente no filme é incrível, essa sutileza implícita no imponente, esse movimento de hoje que pode custar o amanhã. A saga de um como a saga de todos.
Review by mmcc ★★½

In a movie aiming to be as sprawling, if not sweeping, as this, A Tale of Three Cities's camera holds too tightly, refusing a sense of scale demanded by proceedings. In the camera's proximity we cannot see the world inhabited, and with this comes the feeling that if the shot was widened one would see the set, the strings, the staging itself. It all comes together to mean the production lacks a quality that does not allow for any kind of gravitas. It's all so indelicately loud so as to disguise its actual size, and with this is afraid of being found out.
Lau and Tang are strong, and their performances carry this hodge-podge of mediocre editting, effects work, and…