Best movies like The Mad Phoenix

A feature-length documentary that explores the immense changes that occurred for gays, lesbians and transgender people living in the Global South. In the last decade of the 20th Century, a new heightened visibility began spreading throughout the developing world and the battles between families, fundamentalist religions, and governments around sexual and gender identity had begun. But in the West, few people knew about this historic social upheaval, until 52 men on Cairo’s Queen Boat discothèque were arrested for crimes of debauchery. That explosive story focused attention to the lives and trials of gay people coming out in the developing world and the film chronicles those events.

Three Chinese women with vastly different backgrounds get acquainted and become friends amid the social desolation of New York.

An original piece of Asian erotica comparable to the Euro softcore classics, Story of O, Emanuelle, and The Fruit is Ripe. Based on a Cantonese opera, this lavish production tells the story of 15 year old Pao-Yu and his preoccupation with bedding beautiful women.

This is a story about the Peking Opera School that Jackie Chan, Samo Hung and Yuen Biao attended as young men. The story is about their teacher Master Yu and his school.

In his last film assignment, portly Walter Connolly fills the title role (in more ways than one) in The Great Victor Herbert. Very little of Herbert's life story is incorporated in the screenplay (a closing title actually apologizes for the film's paucity of cold hard facts); instead, the writers allow the famed composer's works to speak for themselves. In the tradition of one of his own operettas, Herbert spends most of his time patching up the shaky marriage between tenor John Ramsey (Allan Jones) and Louise Hall (Mary Martin). Many of Herbert's most famous compositions are well in evidence, including "Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life", "March of the Toys" and "Kiss Me Again", the latter performed con brio by teenaged coloratura Susanna Foster. Evidently, the producers were able to secure the film rights for the Herbert songs, but not for the stage productions in which they appeared, which may explain such bizarre interpolations as having a song from Naughty Marietta.

The Decline of Western Civilization III is a 1998 documentary film directed by Penelope Spheeris that chronicles the 'gutter punk' lifestyle of homeless teens in Los Angeles.

A beautiful Cantonese opera about the forbidden love between a princess and a scholar. The backdrop is Ming dynasty China and the two would rather die than be apart.

An aging star finally recognizes the truth when she is replaced in her new movie by a girl from the chorus.

Tiger fighter Wu Sung was originally a coward. But when he was drunk, he was extremely courageous. One time at Jingyang Gang, Wu Sung got drunk and killed a tiger. His fearless fight impressed Sung Jiang and Lao Zhishen. Wu Sang's brother Wu Dalang seemed to be an enmity with Pan Jinlian, but in fact they were a pair of swindler. Pan used her beauty to seduce men into bed and then Wu Dalangn would come in and blackmail the victim, asking for huge sum of money. They were very successful.......

Cheung Ye Pang (Andy Lau) is a Cantonese detective out to combat opium sellers. Encountering high-level corruption along with close friends being murdered, Pang sets out to stop the dealers.

Cantonese film starring Kenny Bee.

The career of W. S. Gilbert, a barrister turned comic librettist, and Arthur Sullivan, a composer turned against his will to light music, who together wrote fifteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, to great public acclaim.

This BBC documentary chronicles the life of folk/soft-rock singer John Denver through his rise with The Chad Mitchell Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary, his subsequent stardom, his popularity decline, and his tragic death at age 53.

An introverted businessman who doesn't get out much, Willie Ng recently celebrated his seventh anniversary, but his marriage seems to be hitting a slump. His wife is a Cantonese opera aficionado who often complains that her husband is boring and doesn't appreciate the arts. Willie himself is also eager for some action to break the monotony. When he goes to Singapore on a business trip, he encounters cute pickpocket Siu Hung at the airport, triggering off a series of events that puts his marriage in jeopardy.

The "Hu-Du-Men" (loosely translated as "stage door") is an imaginary line separating the stage from reality, and a line that must be crossed each and every night by Sum (Josephine Siao), the aging star of a Cantonese Opera troupe. Nearing the twilight of a storied career, Sum must face a variety of challenging new obstacles, including the possible emigration of her family come 1997, the appearance of a promising young actress (Anita Yuen), the hiring of a Western-schooled stage director (David Wu), the surprising revelation of her daughter's sexuality, and finally the reappearance of a shocking secret from her past. Through it all, Sum must retain her professionalism and dignity, as the "Hu-Du-Men" between the stage and her life begins to blur. Emotional, intimate direction and Raymond To's intelligent, relevant screenplay make Hu-Du-Men worthwhile cinema, but it's Josephine Siao's brilliant, emotionally dynamic performance that sets this film above the rest.

Blue Family is the story, inspired by actual events, of three women kidnapped and held captive in a basement for years, fighting for freedom with immense hope and faith even when it seemed impossible.

A daughter's idyllic life is turned upside-down by immense tragedy. As she grows older, her cynicism and apathy towards her new reality is challenged by a reminder from the past that sets her on a pilgrimage that will define her.

Ecologist Suzanne Simard discovers how trees communicate underground through an immense web of fungi.

The story follows a Chinese-American girl who falls for a Cantonese opera star against her father's wishes and becomes pregnant.

Mira Varma takes pride in her family's business of making fruitcakes, despite the decline in its popularity of once being America's most-gifted holiday confection. When Mira's parents decide to hire Brady Phillips and his high-powered marketing company to boost sales for the holidays, Mira must fight to hold on to the heart of the company she loves so much.

A Cantonese opera company is attacked by an army of ghosts, thanks to a feud between the dead grandfathers of one of the company's actresses and a young man.

"Manon", wrote Puccini to his publisher Giulio Ricordi in 1889, "is a heroine I believe in and therefore she cannot fail to win the heart of the public." This turned out to be a truly prophetic statement since none of Puccini’s other world successes were received on their first nights as rapturously as Manon Lescaut. The popularity of Puccini’s great masterpiece has never waned and the highly acclaimed Götz Friedrich production at Covent Garden was hailed as an operatic milestone. Two of the world’s leading stars--Kiri Te Kanawa and Placido Domingo--head a strong cast conducted by the brilliant Italian conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli.

La traviata (Italian: [la traˈviaːta], "The Fallen Woman"[1][2]) is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias (1852), a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The opera was originally entitled Violetta, after the main character. It was first performed on 6 March 1853 at the La Fenice opera house in Venice. Piave and Verdi wanted to follow Dumas in giving the opera a contemporary setting, but the authorities at La Fenice insisted that it be set in the past, "c. 1700". It was not until the 1880s that the composer and librettist's original wishes were carried out and "realistic" productions were staged.[3]

Since its debut in 1934 the Glyndebourne Festival has put a focus on Mozart operas and developed a great competence in staging them. Mozart s operas seem to be made for the small but fine opera house in Glyndebourne and it's not surprising that the 1977 Don Giovanni, one of Mozart's great masterpieces, was a huge success. This production is conducted by Bernard Haitink, who holds the opinion, that no other composer had more opera in his blood than Mozart. It has been proven, for example, that Mozart had no overture for Don Giovanni until the evening before the premiere in Prague and wrote it down in just one night. Like the premiere's success of the opera in Prague in 1787 the Glyndebourne's version staged by Peter Hall was praised by audience and critics alike: We witness a lively and wide-awake ensemble piece that has easily survived all these decades, and still manages to teach many directors the art of playing theatre.

Director-choreographer Susan Stroman and librettist John Weidman construct an evening of three dance plays. The first deals with a "swinger" couple and their servant, whose sexual games suddenly change; the second finds an unhappy 1950s wife imagining herself the belle of a restaurant she attends with her abusive husband; and the final piece allows a suicidal executive to find life again chasing after a mysterious girl in a dance bar.

An adaptation of Tong Tik-sang's now-legendary Cantonese Opera piece, the film features divas Yam Kim-fai and Pak Suet-sin (left with Yam), who play the story's lead lovers, and Lan Chi Pak, the sinister official who tries to break up the relationship. Leung Sing-po plays the pair's friend as well as the mysterious 'man in yellow' who exposes plans to separate the couple.

Written by the great librettist Tong Tik-sang, and featuring Lee Tit's elegant direction and superb performances from Yam Kim-fai and Pak Suet-sin, "Butterfly and Red Pear Blossom" brings Cantonese opera to cinematic life. The film features two lovers who have never met in person but whose poetry over three years has subtly declared their unyielding love. Yam's minimalist acting style enables her to convey dynamic passion as well as step about the stage with ease and accomplish the image of a resolute, yet gentle, scholar. Pak meanwhile defies a prime minister with pride and dignity.

Ling Bo is Lin, a young man engaged to the daughter of a rich man, who now despises Lin because of his family's declining status. Lin visits his beloved fiancee before he heads towards the imperial city to participate in the civil service examination, only to find her maid lying dead in blood. Lin is then accused of murder. How can Judge Bao prove his innocence?

The Opera Boat at Star Island 星 島 紅 船 (Xingdao hongchuan) (1955) aka The Opera Boat in Singapore is a Hong Kong film in the Cantonese language of the comedy and musical genre, directed by Ku Wen-Chung and produced by Shaw Brothers Studio.

After incurring debts from his failed business venture in China, Zong Hua (Cheung) returns to Malaysia after a decade's hiatus. The demoralised Zong Hua faces problems finding a job and tries hard to get used to things at home, including his estranged relationship with his step-father, Xiaotian, who runs a Cantonese opera troupe, and half-sister, Jing Jing (Cathryn Lee). Jing Jing is hostile towards Zong Hua as she always has the impression that the death of their mother was caused by the excessive fights between Zong Hua and his step-father.

The Secret Call is adapted from The Woman, a play by William C. DeMille (brother of Cecil B.) Peggy Shannon plays Wanda Kelly, the daughter of a disgraced politician. Reduced to working as a switchboard operator, Wanda is privy to the many secrets and indiscretions of the clients of a big-city hotel. She also finds romance in the form of handsome Tom Blake (Richard Arlen). The huge cast of characters comes in handy for the film's multitude of subplots, none of which ever get their wires crossed. Peggy Shannon acquits herself nicely in her first major role, but by the end of the decade her career was in decline.

This is a Cantonese musical from director Wong Yiu

The tragic love triangle of early 20th century Peking Opera star Chiu Hai-tang, his beautiful stage partner, and the warlord who forces himself between them, has been a favorite with Chinese audiences for decades.

“The Power of Glove” is a documentary that chronicles the history & legacy of the notoriously “bad” Power Glove, a 1989 Nintendo controller that promised to forever change the way humans interact with technology. Originally released by Mattel, the Power Glove was the first mass-marketed gesture-based video game controller. It was designed by an eclectic team of hard-working and bright-eyed dreamers, and its marketing hype was immense. Immediately after its release, however, gamers were disappointed by the Power Glove, and critics panned it as a worthless gimmick. Yet unlike many gimmicks and critical failures of the past, the Power Glove has not been simply swept under the rug. Nearly three decades after its release, the Power Glove continues to resonate with video gaming and technology fans, becoming the focus of art pieces, songs, videos, hacking projects, and other forms of cultural repurposing. “The Power of Glove” tells the story of how and why the Power Glove lives on.

The story of demonic possession by black magic where the loyal and faithful taxi driver and husband Alan Chang is dragged into a pit of adultery and despair in his vain attempt to overthrow the bestial influences of 'brutal sorcery' or should I say black magic. He picks up a pair of ghostly lovers separated and forced to travel from two cemeteries to meet up. The ghosts put a curse on the taxi driver. He has to get their remains to the female ghost's sister living in Thailand.After the brief affair with the woman she puts another curse on Alan