A Tale of Three Cities (Hong Kong/China)  

A sweeping epic steeped in sentimentality and melodrama, Hong Kong director Mabel Cheung tells this story of the enduring love between a former Kuomintang spy and an impoverished mother—the future parents to martial-arts superstar Jackie Chan. But fate keeps them perpetually apart.

Forced to flee to Hong Kong to escape the Japanese occupation of the 1930s and the onset of the Mao era in the ’50s, they endure numerous hardships, including famine, war, and repeated separation from various family members.

With an overabundance of subplots, the narrative struggles to find its way under the weight of history even when a less overblown account of this remarkable tale would more than adequately enthrall.