A Movie for Every Country?!

[Irish]

Words you'll probably not often see: Irish has a point.:lol:

Oi! Watch your mouth, Scott-lover!

[Mysterious Dude]

I'm looking forward to read about what you will pick & write about China and HK...

The wrath of the Asian cult awaits.

[transmogrifier]

You better not pick Lord of the Rings for New Zealand.

[Derek]

You better not pick Lord of the Rings for New Zealand.

Obviously you have to go with something by the great Colin McKenzie.

[Mysterious Dude]

This took a little longer than I expected. I wrote most of this weeks ago, but I lack the courage of my convictions. I think I'd better post it before I completely forget about the movies I watched. A career as a movie critic is not in my future.

China

I have seen several Chinese movies from the 30's and 40's, and some of them are actually good. In the early thirties, they were still making silent films. The best I've seen are the Peach Girl and The Goddess, both starring Ruan Lingyu, whose tragic life story was later told in the film Centre Stage (1992). My favorite Chinese films from the 40's are The Spring River Flows East and Myriad of Lights, both of which are available at Netflix (on DVD). I will say this about Chinese movies from this era: the filmmaking is not always up to par with that of other countries at the time. In one movie (possibly Spring River), I can recall a scene with two actors talking indoors, and you can see their breath because it's so cold. I guess heating wasn't in the budget. I exhausted Netflix's collection of pre-revolution Chinese films in 2009, so I'm afraid none of the films are fresh in my mind.

In 1949, China became the People's Republic, and after that I discern a certain drop in the quality of Chinese cinema. I have seen no movies from the Mao era, so I can hardly say that with much authority, but it seems to me that no one else has seen very many movies from the era, either.

After Mao's death in 1976, we start to see some Chinese films again, but before we get to that, let's say a few words about...

Hong Kong

Hong Kong became a British colony in 1842 and remained so until 1997. While I abhor colonialism, I suspect it was preferable to live under British rule than under that of Mao Zedong. Today, Hong Kong is part of China again, though it enjoys some autonomy. The success of Hong Kong is impressive. Even if I were to consider it to a separate country, it would still be in the top 40 on this list. I sometimes think of Hong Kong as China's Hollywood (though apparently there's a new contender for that title). They still send their movies to the Oscars as a separate country. I have decided to consider Hong Kong as part of China, but with an asterisk. It deserves its own sub-entry, at least.

By the time of Mao's death, Hong Kong already had a thriving film industry and had found a market in the West. I have seen some movies from this era, though perhaps not enough. I detect a homogeneity in Hong Kong cinema, at least in what has been made available in my country. I see a lot of Kung Fu movie and a lot of violent action movies. I have nothing against either of these genres, particularly. Hell, I can enjoy a good Kung Fu movie, but it is not my favorite genre and I like to see other kinds of movies as well, so I've had a hard time finding Hong Kong films that I really like. I know it's not all Kung Fu and shooting, but it doesn't seem as though many other genres have found a market outside of Hong Kong. I also have a problem with the way violence is generally depicted in these movies. The famous scene in Hard Boiled which shows the two heroes in a shooting battle with dozens of gangsters in a hospital is supposed to be one of the greatest action scenes ever filmed, but I just don't see it. For most of the scene, henchmen are jumping into the frame just so they can get shot. Compare it to Raiders of the Lost Ark. The hero kills numerous people over the course of that film, but each person is different and presents a different obstacle. In Hard Boiled, it's basically the same henchman being killed over and over. I don't find it very interesting.

As for Kung Fu movies, I have some different problems. The fight scenes often seem obligatory, rather than flowing naturally with the story, as if they have to have a fight scene every ten minutes or so as a matter of course. And it doesn't always seem to matter who's fighting whom, as long as somebody's fighting. Come Drink With Me decides to change protagonists in the middle of the film and introduces a new villain at the same time. Other films manage to stick with one protagonist, but the fight scenes are usually like the aforementioned scene in Hard Boiled, wherein the hero is constantly fighting a series of anonymous henchmen who wait in line just to be cut down.

There are many popular movies in this genre that I have not seen, so my thoughts are based on a very small sampling of films.

Now, back to China for a bit. In the 90's, we start to see a lot of films that are joint productions between Hong Kong and China, perhaps in anticipation of their inevitable reunion in 1997. Interestingly, these films managed to avoid many of the Hong Kong clichés I've mentioned and found a more subdued approach (at least for a while). Raise the Red Lantern, Farewell My Concubine and The King of Masks are all pretty modest films. Farewell My Concubine is also very critical of the Mao regime, an interesting quality also found in The Blue Kite and To Live. I'm not sure how they got away with it, since China is still a dictatorship and still self-conscious about its past. Today, I don't see this sort of criticism in Chinese cinema anymore. More often, I see that criticism deflected to the much easier target of World War II-era Japan, though I'd argue Mao did about as much damage as the Japanese did.

After the international success of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, there seemed to be an interest in repeating that success, so we see China producing a number of big-budget knock-offs, many directed by Zhang Yimou and some of them aren't half bad.

I have an interest in historical films. Movies are not only entertainment to me. I consider them to be part of my continuing education. Historical movies are not necessarily a good way to learn actual history, being filled with lies as they are, but I think they can be a good gateway to learning more. If Chinese movies are to be believed, then pretty much every major conflict from antiquity to World War II can be reduced to a series of Kung Fu battles. I suppose there have always been some people in China who know Kung Fu, but I have a hard time believing it played a significant role in every major conflict in the country, or, for that matter, any of them.

Instead of posting a top ten, I'm going to post a selection of films I've seen along with my ratings of them. I'll do separate lists for China and Hong Kong and a third list for films produced by both.

China only

The Peach Girl (1931) ****
The Goddess (1934) ****
Street Angel (1937) ***
The Spring River Flows East (Tears of the Yang-Tse) (1947) ****
Spring in a Small Town (1948) **½
Myriad of Lights (The Lights of Ten Thousand Homes) (1948) ****
Yellow Earth (1985) ***
Red Cherry (1995) ***
Shanghai Triad (1995) ***½
The Emperor and the Assassin (1998) ***
Shower (1999) ***
Devils on the Doorstep (2000) ***
Together (2002) ***½
Electric Shadows (2004) ***
Last Train Home (2009) ***
Aftershock (2010) **½

Hong Kong only

Come Drink with Me (1966) ***
The Heroic Ones (1970) **
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978) ***½
Once Upon a Time in China (1990) ***
Days of Being Wild (1990) ***
Center Stage (1992) ****
Hard Boiled (1992) *½
Iron Monkey (1993) ***½
Chungking Express (1994) ***½
In the Mood for Love (2000) ****
Infernal Affairs (2002) ***
CJ7 (2008) ***½

China and Hong Kong

Raise the Red Lantern (1991) ****
Farewell My Concubine (1993) ***½
The King of Masks (1997) ****
Platform (2000) **½
Hero (2002) ***½
Kung Fu Hustle (2004) ****
House of Flying Daggers (2004) ***½
Mountain Patrol (2004) ***½
Still Life (2006) ***
The Warlords (2007) ***
Ip Man (2008) **
City of Life and Death (2009) ***½
Detective Dee: Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010) **½

The Horse Thief (1986)



The Horse Thief is somewhat well-known for being Martin Scorsese's favorite movie of the 90's, though it was released in the 80's (even in America). I think he just wanted to tell people about it. I hadn't seen any Chinese movies from the 80's before this, so it's new territory for me.

There wasn't quite as much horse thievery as I expected. Our hero, Norbu, is part of nomadic tribe in Tibet in 1923 (when Tibet was independent from China). He does steal horses occasionally to support his wife and young son, which creates conflict with the tribe when they discover it. The film routinely digresses from this spare narrative to focus on scenery and the various Buddhist rituals performed by the area's inhabitants (including the protagonist).



Some of these rituals are easy to understand. When a community is struck by a famine, the men make an effigy of Death, which they set on the river to float away and throw rocks at it. That's probably not going to help, but maybe it'll make them feel better, and I understand it. Others I'm less sure about, such as the ritual where they make a fire and throw pieces of paper into the air, while beseeching the mountain god to protect them. It does make for a beautiful image, though. There is a documentary quality to the way the rituals are filmed, and I wouldn't be surprised if there was a peasantry in China in the 80's that still performed some of these rituals. I was reminded, during the ritual scenes, of Baraka.

I think the film works in the same way that Baraka does, though with a more limited focus. It is an interesting and beautiful snapshot of a time and place.

***½

The Wild, Wild Rose (1960)



I chose this film because I was looking for something different than what I've come to expect from Hong Kong cinema. I think this film was made before most of those tropes were established.

The film begins with pianist Hanhua being hired at a nightclub, and he first sees Sijia (Grace Change) while she is singing a Chinese version of the Habanera. Anyone familiar with Carmen should know that a girl singing the Habanera is bad news. Nor will they be surprised by much else that happens in the movie. There are a few twists, I suppose. For example, unlike the original Carmen, that, we eventually learn that Sijia has a heart of gold, though that doesn't seem to change much in the story.



I didn't know the story was going to so closely follow Carmen, a decidedly European story. On top of that, the film seems to mimic the style of an American film noir. Had I known any of that, I might have been inclined to choose a film that was a bit more Chinese. But I feel like a hypocrite saying that since I have been so critical of Hong Kong cinema already and I chose this film hoping it would be less like a typical Hong Kong film. Well, it was that. The songs (also quite Western) are sometimes fun, but overall, this movie didn't interest me much.

**½

My next country is Japan. Hopefully, it won't take me quite as long to get to. At the rate I'm going, I should be done with this project in 2058.

[Li Lili]

I disagree when you say there is after 1949 a certain drop in the quality of Chinese cinema, there are some, even a fair amount, it's more during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) that there is a breakdown, but between 1949 and 1966, there some. I can for instance suggest San Mao (1949), The White-Haired Girl 1950 New Year Sacrifice 1956, Family 1956, even The Red Detachment 1961 is an interesting movie to see. The drop is more during the Cultural Revolution (so 1966-1976).
Concerning HK, especially 60s HK, well, I don't know why but I've been quite fond of those films (not just martial arts) and saw several of them (musical, romance, comedy, crime, spy films...). The Wild Wild Rose, a Cathay production, is one of my favourites, and I had the chance to see it for the first time at the cinema a few years ago. Grace Chang was a big star. I guess at this era there were some really famous actresses, Linda Lin Dai is also one of the biggest (she received 3 awards Asian Best Actress!).