Top 5 Must-See Zhao Tao Films You Shouldn't Miss

Shun Li and the Poet is a 2011 Italian drama that won the Lux Prize from the European Parliament in 2012. Zhao Tao received the David di Donatello Award for Best Actress in 2012 for her role as Shun Li.

Shun Li (Zhao Tao) worked for eight years in a weaving factory on the outskirts of Rome to repay human traffickers who helped bring her son to Italy. She is unexpectedly relocated to Chioggia, a small island town in the Venetian Lagoon, to work as a bartender. Bepi (Rade Šerbedžija), a Slavic fisherman known as 'The Poet,' has been visiting the bar for years. The film offers a touching exploration of the bond between a Chinese woman and an Italian fisherman in a quaint Venetian island town.

DETAILS:

Director: Andrea Segre

Cast: Zhao Tao, Rade Šerbedžija, Marco Paolini

Duration: 1h 38m

Release Year: 2011

IMDb Rating: 7.2

Tomatometer: 95%

Audience Rating: 79%

24 City is a 2008 Chinese film that follows the lives of three generations of people in Chengdu (1950s, 1970s, and present day) as a state-owned factory is replaced by a modern apartment complex. The film was also known as *The Story of 24 City* during production.

In Chengdu, Factory 420 is being demolished to make way for luxury high-rise buildings. The scenes alternate between the factory's operations, the workers, and the buildings being dismantled, blending stories from workers born in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s who share their experiences working in the factory, which produced military aircraft, as well as their lives and work. A middle-aged man visits his elderly mentor, and the film concludes with two young people, children of the older workers, telling their own stories about visiting the factory. In *24 City*, Zhao Tao plays the role of Su Na.

DETAILS:

Director: Jia Zhangke

Cast:

Duration: 1h 52m

Release Year: 2008

IMDb Rating: 7.1

Tomatometer: 89%
Audience Rating: 71%

Mountain Women was selected to compete for the prestigious Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. The story is based on the childhood memories of Jia Zhangke, who has long admired the leader of a local gang as a role model.

Qiao (Zhao Tao) lives in a small town, where her boyfriend, Bin (Liao Fan), is a slick gangster working for a corrupt property development company. After Bin's boss is murdered, Bin rises through the ranks in the Jianghu (a brotherhood of criminals) and becomes increasingly threatened by the hostility of rival gangs.

When Bin and Qiao are arrested, Qiao makes a fateful decision: she takes the blame to protect him. After spending five years in prison, she emerges to find that her world has dramatically changed. Zhao Tao's brilliant performance earned her the 12th Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Actress and the 2019 Asian Film Award for Best Actress.

DETAILS:

Director: Jia Zhangke

Cast: Zhao Tao, Liao Fan, Yi'nan Diao

Duration: 2h 16m

Release Year: 2018

IMDb Rating: 6.9

Tomatometer: 99%

Audience Rating: 68%

Mountains May Depart is a 2015 Mandarin-language film. Directed by Jia Zhangke, it was his eighth feature film. The film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and was also selected for the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.

In 1999, in China, childhood friends Liangzi and Zhang are both in love with Tao (played by Zhao Tao), the town's beauty. Tao eventually marries Zhang, the wealthier of the two. They soon have a son, whom they name Dollar. The film follows the lives, loves, hopes, and eventual fractures of this family over two generations, set against the backdrop of a rapidly changing Chinese society. Zhao Tao's stellar performance earned her the 2015 Asian Film Award for Best Actress.

DETAILS:

Director: Jia Zhangke

Cast: Zhao Tao, Yi Zhang, Jing Dong Liang

Duration: 2h 6m

Release Year: 2015

IMDb Rating: 6.9

Tomatometer: 90%

Audience Rating: 68%

Touching Crimes is a 2013 Chinese anthology film. The movie consists of four interconnected segments, set in diverse geographical and social contexts across modern-day China. It explores recent events in the country's contemporary history, influenced by both female narratives and traditional Chinese Peking opera. The film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, and Jia Zhangke won the Best Screenplay Award.

Xiaoyu (Zhao Tao) meets her lover Youliang (Zhang Jiayi), a man who is already married. She gives him an ultimatum: divorce his wife within six months. Youliang returns to Guangdong, and Xiaoyu starts working as a receptionist at a spa. There, she is attacked by Youliang’s wife and hired thugs, but manages to escape by hiding in a fortune-telling truck. The story unfolds further from there.

DETAILS:

Director: Jia Zhangke

Cast: Wu Jiang, Baoqiang Wang, Zhao Tao

Duration: 2h 10m

Release Year: 2013

IMDb Rating: 7.1

Tomatometer: 94%

Audience Rating: 74%