View Entire Filmography     

Filmography

Seventeen Years


Click for larger image

Date:1999
Director: Yuan Zhang
Screenwriter: Yu Hua, Ning Dai, Zhu Wen
Featured Country: China
Running Time: 85
Format: Color
Original Language: Mandarin
Event: Chinese History


In a small northern town in China, a family is divided. Yu Zhenggao (Liang Sung) and his daughter Yu Xiaoqin (Li Jun) live with his new wife Tao Airong (Li Yeping) and her daughter Tao Lan (Liu Lin). The two girls are almost polar opposites, and to make matters worse, the parents each favor their own child, encouraging open competition between the two.

One day, Yu Xiaoqin steals a small amount of money from her father, and family tensions rise. She then plants it on Tao Lan's bed, framing her for the theft. Angry, Tao Lan strikes her with a piece of bamboo, accidentally killing her, an act which lands Tao Lan in jail. Seventeen years later, Tao Lan is allowed to visit her family as part of a program to reunite families for the New Years holiday. When no one shows up at the bus stop to meet her, however, Chen Jie (Li Bingbing), her prison guard, convinces Tao Lan to find her parents. Accompanied by Chen Jie, Tao Lan eventually tracks down her family.