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Empire of Silver

Written and Directed by Christina Yao
Cast: Aaron Kwok, Tielin Zhang, Hao Lei, Jennifer Tilly, Ding Zhi Cheng, Lei Zhen Yu, Lantian Chang
Run Time: 112 minutes
MPAA Rating: Unrated

Can you make a gripping epic from the ups and downs of banking in 1899 China and its Pingyao or “Wall Street,” when opium was the drug of choice—particularly for wives and concubines—money was changing over to paper bills, and the Boxer Rebellion was on the way?

Well, if you are first-time Taiwanese director Christina Yao, and have seemingly all the time you can lay your hands on, you can try.

This is the theme of Empire of Silver, now coming to a Cineplex near you, six years after it was first shot in Western China. These were the first banks in Chinese history, and “the Chinese Wall Street” began in the dusty desert-edge cities to the west of Beijing during the Qing dynasty, where Yao filmed.

The film seems overlong, yet somehow not lon