Chinese New Wave

[david1978]

For the cinema buffs:

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2007/05/china_the_new_w.html

[imron]

Perhaps you'd care to share your thoughts, as well as the link?

[david1978]

The link isn't working?

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2007/05/china_the_new_w.html

The Chinese new wave is essentially a collection of underground filmmakers who make films concerning the 800,000 million or so Chinese who have been left behind in the modernization project. Their films, as to be expected, are banned in China but celebrated in the West amongst critics. The leader of the so-called sixth-generation, Jia Zhangke, has made some of my personal favorite films. You can see his resume on IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0422605/

Some trailers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaHKHwOnTzs

More reading: http://www.china-underground.com/cinema/new_chinese_cinema.html

[imron]

The link is working fine, I was referring more to the fact that rather than just posting a single link as the start of a new thread, it's useful and informative to add a bit more information about why you think that link is good. Compare your first post to your second. The latter is a much better example of how to start a thread

Anyway, returning (sort of) to the topic..

What I always find interesting about "banned" films in China, is that they are so readily available. I often think film-makers like to throw that term in as it always generates extra publicity for their films, regardless of how "banned" they really are.

[gato]

What I always find interesting about "banned" films in China, is that they are so readily available.

They are available in the sense that news.bbc.co.uk is available. They are available in pirated form for those who are motivated to find them, but since they are usually not allowed to be shown in the theaters (therefore "banned") and therefore have no marketing behind them, only a small, small minority of the public ever heard of these movies, let alone have seen them. If you ask an group of average Chinese college students about Tian Zhuangzhuang's “Blue Kite" (蓝风筝), a beautiful film about the cultural revolution, for example, only a small minority will have heard of it, and maybe only 1 out of 100 will have seen it, if that.

The latest HK-published books about Zhao Ziyang is also available here (I just bought a copy the other day from a pirated books vendor), but that doesn't the ban on these books isn't effective.

[david1978]

I guess considering the DVDs are manufactured in China, they're bound to leak into the market. The issue with the banned films of the so-called Chinese new wave is that they're openly critical of China's modernization. Some of the filmmakers, like Ye Lou, whose last film, Yihe Yuan, features the Tienanmen Square massacre as a backdrop to the story, has been banned from making films for a five years. The Chinese government even went as far as to send agents to film festivals to demand the exhibition prints. So while these films may be available on the streets, I doubt Chinese people are watching them. On a hopeful note, Jia Zhangke's last film, The World, passed the censors and was exhibited in China.

[akdn]

Thanks for that link. I enjoyed the report.

In fact, since The World, Jia Zhangke was granted an official release of Still Life (三峡好人) in 2006, which tells the story of two failed marriages, against the backdrop of community upheaval in the 3 Gorges region (clearly, a sensitive topic).

Yes, "banned" seems like a convenient way for a director to get some kind of international attention, but I wouldn't imagine these directors actually want to fall foul of the censors. Maybe their artistic integrity encourages them to push the boundaries, in the hope that official attitudes change. The fact that films such as Still Life are getting approval is possibly a vindication of this.

Here is an article about Jia Zhangke's feelings when handed a ban after he made Pickpocket (from Danwei.org).

[david1978]

Akdn, thank you for that article. I knew Jia Zhangke had problems with the censors over Xiao Wu but I didn't know the sordid, indeed juicy, details. If you know of more links on the sixth generation, in English or Chinese, do share.

I watched Still Life last night for the first time and I loved it. Jia's style appears to be getting increasingly formal and cinematic, while his subjects continue to have the documentarian's concern for social justice. I've also noticed that his use of sound has become quite sophisticated, interweaving diegetic and non-diegetic sounds, seamlessly.

[akdn]

Jia's style appears to be getting increasingly formal and cinematic

You mean, there's actually a storyline?

Only joking. Clearly, there's a lot more money behind his projects now, but I respect the way he keeps the same team of people around him.

I remember Roddy once saying that Jia makes his films in the kind of towns that you would only see if you got off the train at the wrong station by mistake. I actually think that's one of the beauties of his filmmaking, that you get to see something of the other China.

There's a fabulous article here, but the link's not working for me here. Not sure if this is temporary glitch, or not...

[roddy]

I remember Roddy once saying that Jia makes his films in the kind of towns that you would only see if you got off the train at the wrong station by mistake. I actually think that's one of the beauties of his filmmaking, that you get to see something of the other China.

I don't recall saying that, but it sounds good so let's assume I did. Although with The World there's no need to take a train, you can just get off the 937路 at the wrong place.

What I can remember saying though, is this:

his use of long, empty shots to convey the idea of long, empty lives gets dull pretty quickly, and the ending of Shijie just left me thinking ‘what was the point of the film’, rather than ‘what is the point of life’, which I think might have been the intention.

which I was reminded of by this, from the link above in the prodigal akdn's (welcome back! stick around, it's fun ) post, although about Platform rather than The World

The experience of this film can admittedly be torturous for the uninitiated or the impatient, a reaction that leads to criticisms that Jia is an undisciplined filmmaker who doesn't know how to repackage the pace of life in a way that most mainstream film viewers can readily consume.

Uninitiated or impatient, I guess I am. There were parts of Platform I loved, but I still haven't been able to bring myself to put the second disk in.

[david1978]

You mean, there's actually a storyline?

Actually, I was referring to the evolution of Jia's use of film language. In Xiao Wu, for example, the camera was handheld and free flowing which gave the film a documentary aesthetic. In the later films, however, the camera is either stationary or follows a very controlled choreographed movement which gives the films a highly rigid structure. In fact, since The World, in some subtle ways, I'm spotting a resemblance between the films of Jia and those of the Russian master, Andrei Tarkovsky.