Directory of World Cinema: China

Description

Commended for their social relevance and artistic value, Chinese films remain at the forefront of international cinema, bolstered in recent years by a new generation of talented young filmmakers. Directory of World Cinema: China presents an accessible overview of the definitive films of Hong Kong and mainland China, with particular attention to the achievements of prolific industry figures, the burgeoning independent sector, and the embrace of avant-garde practices of art cinema. Spanning a variety of characteristic genres, including horror, heroic bloodshed, romantic comedy, and kung-fu, reviews cover individual titles in considerable depth and are accompanied by a selection of full-color film stills. A comprehensive filmography and a bibliography of recommended reading complete this essential companion to Chinese cinema.

Introduction by the Editor

Chinese Opera and Cinema

Taiwanese Documentary

Hong Kong Action Cinema

Three Action Heroes

David Chiang

Chow Yun-fat

Ti Lung

Three Female Stars

Grace Chang

Esther Eng

Brigitte Lin

Hong Kong New Wave

Allen Fong

Ann Hui

Patrick Tam

Directors: Mainland China

Chen Kaige

Lu Chuan

Tian Zhuangzhuang

Directors: Taiwan

Chu Yen-ping

Hou Hsiao-hsien

Tsai Ming-liang

Directors: Hong Kong

Fruit Chan Wong

Kar-wai John Woo

Drama: Mainland China

Drama: Taiwan

Kung Fu and wuxia Pian (Swordplay Film): Hong Kong and Taiwan

Action Cinema and Heroic Bloodshed: Hong Kong

Independent and Art Cinema: Hong Kong

Comedy/Musical: Taiwan and Hong Kong

Documentary: Mainland China and Hong Kong

Sujets

• Directories
• Película fotográfica
• Reference
• Cinema of Asia
• Directory
• History of film
• Animation
• China
• Film

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781841505978
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

Volume 12
DIRECTORY OF WORLD CINEMA CHINA
Edited by Gary Bettinson
First Published in the UK in 2012 by Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2012 by Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright 2012 Intellect Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Publisher: May Yao
Publishing Manager: Melanie Marshall
Cover photo: Hero (dir. Zhang Yimou). Beijing New Picture/Elite Group/The Kobal Collection
Cover Design: Holly Rose
Copy Editor: Emma Rhys
Typesetting: Mac Style, Beverley, E. Yorkshire
Directory of World Cinema ISSN 2040-7971
Directory of World Cinema eISSN 2040-798X
Directory of World Cinema: China ISBN 978-1-84150-558-9
Directory of World Cinema: China eISBN 978-1-84150-597-8
CONTENTS
DIRECTORY OF WORLD CINEMA CHINA
Acknowledgements
Introduction by the Editor
Chinese Opera and Cinema
Taiwanese Documentary
Hong Kong Action Cinema
Three Action Heroes
David Chiang
Chow Yun-fat
Ti Lung
Three Female Stars
Grace Chang
Esther Eng
Brigitte Lin
Hong Kong New Wave
Allen Fong
Ann Hui
Patrick Tam
Directors: Mainland China
Chen Kaige
Lu Chuan
Tian Zhuangzhuang
Directors: Taiwan
Chu Yen-ping
Hou Hsiao-hsien
Tsai Ming-liang
Directors: Hong Kong
Fruit Chan
Wong Kar-wai
John Woo
Drama: Mainland China
Reviews
Drama: Taiwan
Reviews
Kung Fu and wuxia Pian (Swordplay Film): Hong Kong and Taiwan
Reviews
Action Cinema and Heroic Bloodshed: Hong Kong
Reviews
Independent and Art Cinema: Hong Kong
Reviews
Comedy/Musical: Taiwan and Hong Kong
Reviews
Documentary: Mainland China and Hong Kong
Reviews
Recommended Reading
Online Resources
Test Your Knowledge
Notes on Contributors
Filmography
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book differs from previous volumes in the Directory of World Cinema series insofar as it addresses not one national cinema but three distinct sites of Chinese filmmaking, located in the People s Republic of China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. The book s wide ambit accounts for some minor deviations between this and other volumes in the Directory of World Cinema series, though the present volume largely adheres to the series standard format. By parsing Chinese cinema into three filmmaking centres, the Directory of World Cinema: China benefits from the expertise of writers specializing in each field of Chinese film, and I am indebted to all these authors for their valuable contributions. Their varied critical methods testify to the rich diversity of both Chinese cinema and contemporary Film Studies.
My appreciation goes to Melanie Marshall, May Yao, and Masoud Yazdani at Intellect for their enthusiastic support and careful nurturing of this project; Holly Rose for her work on the manuscript; and James Campbell for seeing the Directory through the marketing and advertizing stage. I would also like to acknowledge Lancaster University s Faculty of Social Sciences Research Fund, which supported some of the research presented in this volume. Lastly I thank Yvonne Teh and Wing-Ho Lin for stimulating exchanges of information and opinion.
Gary Bettinson
INTRODUCTION
BY THE EDITOR
Unlike many national cinemas represented in the Directory of World Cinema series, China does not signify a national cinema in a unitary sense. Rather it denotes three distinct yet equally Chinese cinemas - those of the People s Republic of China (PRC), Taiwan, and Hong Kong, all of which receive coverage in the Directory of World Cinema: China. Cultural historians and film scholars discriminate among the so-called three Chinas on the grounds of socio-political and historical difference, while the globally-dispersed Chinese diaspora further disarrays notions of a unified nation state. Admittedly, assumptions of a homogenous Chinese cinema are not wholly unjustified. This century has borne witness to intensified cooperation between and among the three Chinas, inviting us to categorize Chinese cinema in holistic terms. At a 2011 industry seminar 1 , Chinese film producers claimed to regard the Mainland, Taiwan, and Hong Kong markets as a single entity, where once they had distinguished among them. Behind this conviction is the recent surge of coproductions between the PRC and Taiwan and/or Hong Kong, which has seen the borders separating the three Chinas grow increasingly porous. Co-produced movies such as John Woo s Red Cliff (2008-2009) are fast becoming the norm as the Mainland coproduction model shifts toward the centre of Chinese film production.
What makes the Chinese coproduction strategy so seductive? Certainly all three territories are able to produce commercial hits independently. But some compelling incentives promote the trend for cross-border cooperation. For each party, coproductions spread risk, provide inroads into foreign markets, and augment box-office revenue in the local territory. In the case of Mainland China, the coproduction boom has expanded a thriving domestic market. Recent joint ventures account for a substantial portion of the PRC s box-office returns, with megapictures such as Let the Bullets Fly (Jiang Wen, 2010), Aftershock (Feng Xiaogang, 2010), and The Founding of a Republic (Huang Jian-Xin, Han San-Ping, 2009) consolidating the market. In addition, Mainland studios benefit from the craft expertise, market savvy, and global star appeal provided by the Taiwanese and Hong Kong affiliate, advancing both production values and distribution practices. The Mainland industry s rapid growth and vast expansion of screens demands a high turnover of product, but quota restrictions on foreign imports mandate that local firms shoulder the burden of productivity; since Mainland coproductions qualify officially as local products, they help to fill theatre slots. The pooling of resources acquires yet additional luster as domestic studios venture into stereoscopic film-making, enabling Mainland producers to tap technical expertise from across Asia. The PRC s coproduction upsurge has also advertized to other film-making centres, notably Hollywood, a renewed appetite for cooperation, leading to a flurry of Sino-US features with global potential (e.g. The Karate Kid [Harald Zwart, 2010]; The Children of Huang Shi [Roger Spottiswoode, 2008]; The Forbidden Kingdom [Rob Minkoff, 2008]).

Red Cliff , China Film Group/Lion Rock Productions/The Kobal Collection.
Mainland coproduction also yields benefits for Hong Kong and Taiwan investors. Local film-makers now capitalize upon the PRC s advanced infrastructure, gaining access to sophisticated studio facilities, diverse locations, and far-reaching distribution channels. Of course, the huge China market provides a key incentive for local studios to embark on Mainland coproductions. Neither Taiwan nor Hong Kong can sustain its local cinema without relying on outside markets, and (the global distribution network notwithstanding) the Mainland market is among the world s largest. Some Chinese coproductions (e.g. Young Bruce Lee , 2010) pan out even wider to target global audiences. Recent transformations of PRC national policies, resulting in advantageous trade agreements, have stimulated cooperation. The Closer Economic Partnership Agreement, signed in 2003, waived the quota restriction on Hong Kong films and permitted the region s firms to privately own Mainland theatres (a privilege not extended to Taiwan or the US); this trade deal triggered an increase in Hong Kong-China coproductions, crucially reviving the flagging Hong Kong industry. In 2010 the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) marked a decisive improvement in cross-strait relations, ameliorating sixty years of political enmity; the ECFA signaled a willingness to remove or relax the PRC s import quota for Taiwanese films, and to encourage collaboration across the China straits. By liberalizing the market, the People s Republic has rejuvenated Taiwan s moribund industry: vulnerable, like Hong Kong, to Hollywood hegemony, the island s box-office returns have lately been boosted by solid Mainland coproductions such as Kung Fu Dunk (Chu Yen-ping, 2008) and Reign of Assassins (Su Chao-pin, 2010). (Solely indigenous hits, such as Monga [Doze Niu, 2010] and Cape No. 7 [Wei De-sheng, 2008], are rare.) In all, the rise in pan-Chinese coproduction raises prospects for a unitary national cinema, a borderless conglomerate whose historical divisions and dissensions are supplanted by strategic, commerce-driven unification.
Against the benefits of Mainland coproduction must be set some acute disadvantages. Many critics inveigh against perceived artistic compromise, as when concessions to the PRC are detected in the jingoistic flagwaving of Wilson Yip s Ip Man 2 (Hong Kong-China, 2010) and Yuen Woo-Ping s True Legend (Hong Kong-China-US, 2010). Another concern is that the exodus of major talent to Mainland China results in an impoverished local scene. Moreover, coproduction criteria set in place by the PRC - for example, that one-third of the project s cast must be of Mainland Chinese descent - limit opportunities for Taiwanese and Hong Kong players. Local producers also have to contend with the certainty of losing substantial revenue to the PRC s pirate distribution channels. Then there is the challenge of producing a film universal enough to satisfy the markets of both (or all) parties; this requires delicate negotiation of each territory s distinctive identity, established through domestic cinema in the foregoing decades. Yet another challenge besets Hong Kong in particular. Taiwan s Mandarin-language product finds an amenable market in the Mainland, but Hong