The title of this collection, Chinese-Language Film, proposes a linguistically based category through which to consider a block of films, directors, and styles. This grouping obviously works against the notion of national cinema, but it also works against a transnational ethnic identification that would include, for example, films about Chinese life in the United States, Europe, South America, or other locales if those films’ predominant language is English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, or any language that is not Chinese. Given that language specificity and its implications are often ignored in many fields—under the utopian desire, perhaps, for transparency and easy communication, or the less utopian presumption that everyone should function in English—I find it a useful way of thinking about film. Like all categories, however, it has its own inherent limits, both absolutely and as an organizing tool for Chinese-Language Film’s particular set of essays. Sheldon H. Lu and Emilie Yueh-yu Yeh have included a staggering sixteen chapters divided into three sections, as well as a “mapping the field” introduction that lays out the value and problems of using language as an organizing concept. They convincingly argue that there is no consistent meaning associated with the use of a certain language....