A Strategic List of Mandarin Chinese Language Films from 2022 to Improve Our Chinese as a Foreign Language.
Published On: 8 Jan 2023
Updated On: 8 Jan 2023
Cutting to the Chase: Background of this list.
Ok, while Mandarin Chinese is essentially my mother tongue and I am fluent in the language, living in arguably multilingual Singapore with English as our de facto lingua franca meant that I still had to find avenues to productively improve my Mandarin Chinese and understanding of present-day Chinese culture and affairs. One way I do so is by immersing myself in the world of storytelling through cinema! And I believe that these lists would work just as well for anyone learning Mandarin Chinese as a second language. But the information overload online is real, with countless lists out there. I have my own motivations and methodology for deciding how to best use my time and make good choices over what to watch, so I thought to share my version of recommendations with any of us interested.
How to use this list?
Everything has been organised. Watching each film title down their order of appearance in this article will literally be us watching Mandarin Chinese Language films released in 2022 from the best-ranked onwards.
Method and Process
I release such articles once I believe I have done a fair amount of due diligence to help me feel confident enough to commit to watching the films (out of countless films out there, and limited time). I might occasionally update lists when deemed relevant, as reflected in the ‘Updated On’ status at the start of this article. In summary, I first used Google and Douban (豆瓣), a renown reviewing hub for Chinese cinema, to filter out Mandarin Chinese language films released from Mainland China in 2022. Then, I ranked the Top 5 titles according to their 豆瓣 ratings and IMDb ratings (if avaialble). Few titles would have Rotten Tomatoes ratings, but I recorded them where convenient. I then especially highlighted the titles which featured in both Top 5 lists. As I understand that I may potentially miss out on exceptional yet qualitatively-rated non-mainstream films e.g. from film festivals, critical reviews etc., such titles are subsequently found in the section titled ‘Sorted by qualitative critical acclaim (best to good).’ This is where most of my updates may occur, as I continue to read up more. Therefore, the film titles appear in sequence of most recommended to watch based on evidence (rankings, critical acclaim etc.).
Here is the list:
Click on the titles for their trailers (if available).
Films that made the Top 5 in both Douban (豆瓣) and IMDb
(Ranked from approximately highest to lowest)
Essentially, these are the must-watch films, if anything, of Mandarin Chinese language films released from Mainland China in 2022.
1. Return to Dust (隐入尘烟)
2022 ‧ Drama ‧ 2h 13m
DB: 8.5/10, IMDb: 7.6/10, Rotten Tomatoes: 100%
Sixth Tone labelled it as “most controversial (and best reviewed)” (2022.12.20A).
2. Lighting Up the Stars (人生大事)
PG13 2022 ‧ Family ‧ 1h 52m
豆瓣: 7.3/10, IMDb: 7.4/10
Also appeared in 2 other referenced articles expressing positive reviews.
3. Song of Spring (妈妈！)
2022 ‧ Drama ‧ 1h 49m
豆瓣: 7.5/10, IMDb: 7.0/10, Rotten Tomatoes: NA
4. One and Four (一个和四个)
2021 ‧ Drama/Crime ‧ 1h 28m
豆瓣: 7.2/10, IMDb: 6.8/10, Rotten Tomatoes: NA
Sixth Tone labelled it as the “best indie film” (2022.12.20A).
The following list demonstrates the top-scorers of each renowned ratings platform, and suggest that these are the top of what we could get if we were attempting to inquire into the Chinese psyche of the season through its films released in 2022.
Top 5 Highest Douban (豆瓣) Score (out of 10)
(Surveyed and Ranked as of 2023.01.08)
(Ranked from highest to lowest)
2. Sniper (狙击手)
2022 ‧ War/Action ‧ 1h 36m
豆瓣: 7.7/10, IMDb: 6.4/10
Also appeared in 2 other referenced articles expressing positive reviews.
=3. Home Coming (万里归途)
2022 ‧ 2h 17m
豆瓣: 7.4/10, IMDb: 6.5/10
Also appeared in 2 other referenced articles expressing positive reviews.
=3. Table for Six (还是觉得你最好)
PG13 2022 ‧ Comedy ‧ 1h 56m
豆瓣: 7.4/10, IMDb: NA, Rotten Tomatoes: NA
=4. The Battle at Lake Changjin II (长津湖之水门桥)
NC16 2022 ‧ War/Drama ‧ 2h 29m
豆瓣: 7.2/10, IMDb: 5.4/10, Rotten Tomatoes: NA
Sixth Tone labelled it as “most successful at the box office” (2022.12.20A). Also appeared in 4 other referenced articles expressing positive reviews.
5. Hard Love (“炼”爱)
2021 ‧ Documentary ‧ 1h 37m
豆瓣: 7.1/10, IMDb: 6.3/10, Rotten Tomatoes: NA
Sixth Tone labelled it as “most disappointing” (2022.12.20A).
Note: Ranks 1, 3, 4, =4, are featured earlier in the article under ‘Films that made the Top 5 in both IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes’. They are: Return to Dust (隐入尘烟) (8.5), Song of Spring (妈妈！) (7.5), Lighting Up the Stars (人生大事) (7.3), One and Four (一个和四个) (7.2) respectively.
Top 5 Highest IMDb Score (out of 10)
(Surveyed and Ranked as of 2023.01.08)
(Ranked from highest to lowest)
=4. Nice View (奇迹·笨小孩)
NC16 2022 ‧ Drama ‧ 1h 46m
豆瓣: 7.4/10, IMDb: 6.7/10, Rotten Tomatoes: NA
Also appeared in 4 other referenced articles expressing positive reviews.
5. New Gods: Yang Jian (新神榜：杨戬)
Adventure/Animation ‧ 2h 7m
豆瓣: 7.0/10, IMDb: 6.5/10, Rotten Tomatoes: NA
Also appeared in 2 other referenced articles expressing positive reviews.
=5. Moon Man (独行月球)
PG 2022 ‧ Sci-fi/Comedy ‧ 2h 2m
豆瓣: 6.6/10, IMDb: 6.5/10, Rotten Tomatoes: NA
Also appeared in 3 other referenced articles expressing positive reviews.
=5. Ordinary Hero (平凡英雄)
2022 ‧ 1h 37m
豆瓣: 6.3/10, IMDb: 6.5/10, Rotten Tomatoes: NA
Sixth Tone labelled it as “most corny” (2022.12.20A).
Note: Ranks 1, 2, 3, 4 are featured earlier in the article under ‘Films that made the Top 5 in both IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes’. They are: Return to Dust (隐入尘烟) (7.6), Lighting Up the Stars (人生大事) (7.4), Song of Spring (妈妈！) (7.0), One and Four (一个和四个) (6.8) respectively.
Checkpoint
By this point, we would have watched 13 high quality Mandarin Chinese language films by Mainland China, which is pretty respectable if it were done within a year. I would continue down the list only if I were very keen on improving my Mandarin Chinese through this method.
In the section below, I will not include any films that have already featured in the top Douban (豆瓣) and IMDb rankings above. My focus here is on exceptional non-mainstream titles which are better done justice through qualitative reviews (references cited in parentheses) rather than Douban (豆瓣) or IMDb. Otherwise, they are titles with Douban (豆瓣) or IMDb scores that skirt the border and didn’t quite make it to the Top 5, but have good critical acclaim.
Sorted by qualitative critical acclaim (best to good)
Manchurian Tiger / Dongbei Tiger (东北虎)
2021 ‧ Drama/Comedy
DB: 5.9/10, IMDb: 5.6/10, Rotten Tomatoes: NA
Sixth Tone labelled it as “most underrated” (2022.12.20A).
Checkpoint
For anyone simply looking for good Mandarin Chinese language movies released by Mainland China in 2022, we can probably stop reading by this point, and only proceed unless we wish to watch more Mandarin Chinese language films by Mainland China in 2022 with a fair rating. The only reason I am leaving these titles listed below is so that I may check against them as watchlists should I look for titles to watch, come across one, and realise I had already classified it as avoidable as far as my language-learning goals through movie-watching are concerned. I should be reading a book, or practising another language-learning method instead, if I have watched films up to this point.
Sorted by qualitative critical acclaim (fair)
- Too Cool to Kill (这个杀手不太冷静) PG13 2022 ‧ 1h 49m 豆瓣: 6.2/10, IMDb: 6.1/10. Also appeared in 2 other referenced articles expressing positive reviews.
- Detective VS. Sleuths (神探大战) NC16 2022 ‧ Thriller/Crime ‧ 1h 42m. 豆瓣: 6.7/10, IMDb: 6.2/10, Rotten Tomatoes: NA. Also appeared in 2 other referenced articles expressing positive reviews.
- Company of Warriors 勇士连 2021 ‧ War/Action. Sixth Tone labelled it as “most government supported” (2022.12.20A). I guess we would watch it if we wish to better understand the kind of material that received high endorsement from the government.
- Blind War (盲战) 2022 豆瓣: 5.7/10
Sorted by qualitative criticism (bad to worse).
- Ten Years of Loving You (十年一品温如言) 豆瓣: 2.8/10, IMDb: 4.8/10, Rotten Tomatoes: NA. Sixth Tone labelled it as “worst reviewed” (2022.12.20A).
- Give Me Five (哥，你好) 豆瓣: 4.9/10, IMDb: 5.1/10, Rotten Tomatoes: NA
*If there are any Mandarin Chinese language titles released by Mainland China in 2022 which are not listed here, I have either skipped past them as I got too lazy to record them, or I simply haven’t come across them, and would place them into this list if I deem necessary.
Otherwise, thank you for joining me!
1. In-text references
(2022.12.20A Publish Date) A dismal year for Chinese cinema: 8 notable films of 2022. Sixth Tone.
2. Bibliography of resources consulted in addition to in-text citations
(2023.01.08A Access Date) Best Chinese Movies of 2022. Best Similar.
(2023.01.08B Access Date) Top 10 Mainland China Box Office Movies for 2022. IMDb.
(2023.01.01A Publish Date) Top 10 Chinese films in 2022. China.org.cn
(2022.12.21A Publish Date)内地票房年度总排行：2022年电影(截至12/25). Douban 豆瓣.
