Xing Yufei as Ling, Xia Yu as Liu Jinglun in Shadow Magic - 2001 Photo by Fu Xiang Ping

Shadow Magic: A Magical Film

IFC is currently airing the 2001 film "Shadow Magic" starring Jared Harris (one Brit legacy -- he's the son of Richard Harris -- married to another, Emilia Fox -- she' s the daughter of actors Joanna David and Edward Fox) and Xia Yu. The film is a delightful surprise and utterly charming.

Summary: Beijing, 1902. While Master Ren, owner of the Feng Tai Photo Shop, prepares for a formal portrait of China's most famous opera star, Lord Tan, Tan's daughter Ling exchanges furtive glances with Ren's chief photographer, Liu. Meanwhile a foreigner named Raymond Wallace hopes to make a fortune with a crude movie theater he names Shadow Magic. Liu's fascination with useless and disapproved foreign gadgetry leads him into a double life working for both Ren and Wallace.

Jared Harris as Raymond Wallace and Xia Yu as Liu Jinglun in Sony Pictures Classics' Shadow Magic - 2001