A Thousand Pieces of Gold

The misadventures and sufferings of a mail-order Chinese bride in the 19th century California gold-rush, based on fact. Given that her Manchurian father sells her off to a 'marriage broker' without telling her what he's doing, Lalu has an understandably deep distrust of men in general; but the proto-feminist dimension of her struggle seems imposed from a modern perspective, not something that grows from the material. Still, it's decently written and directed, and features very assured performances from Chao as the heroine and Dunn (a regular in John Carpenter movies) as the kindly man she ought to have trusted.