‘The Blue Kite’

Of all the remarkable movies to have come out of China in recent years, this 1994 Tian Zhuangzhuang film could well be the most authentic, accessible and powerful. Daringly political and quietly shattering, it tells the truth in such a completely human way that it seems hardly foreign at all. Set between the death of Stalin in 1953 and the living death of the Cultural Revolution in 1968, Xiao Mao’s realistic script illuminates that most chaotic period of modern Chinese politics by telling the story of an ordinary woman (Lu Liping) and her extended family. With Zhang Wenyao (pictured) (Cinemax Monday at 3:50 a.m.)