Wong Kar-wai: Days of Being Wild

Text examined

• Days of Being Wild ［阿飞正传］(1990)
  Full Movie with English Subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXQfxyED7mA 

The concept of time is one worth exploring in Wong Kar-wai’s breakthrough film, Days of Being Wild. The film, which falls under art-house cinema for its experimentation in such concepts, was one of the first of its kind in that period of 1980s and 90s Hong Kong cinema. It is the first part of Wong Kar-wai’s art-house trilogy, which includes In the Mood for Love (2000) and 2046 (2004).

The title (DAYS of Being Wild) and the film poster both draw references to time – a clock being the central image. The very first scene is explicitly related to time and memory, as the main character Yuddy (Leslie Cheung) spends a minute with Su Li Zhen (Maggie Cheung). This moment becomes significant later on in the film, when Yuddy is asked what he was doing at that exact moment of the first scene. A recurring image in the film is one of a clock ticking, which can be read in many different ways. In light of the discussion on a post-colonial Hong Kong identity, the clock ticking represents the imminence of Hong Kong’s handover to Chinese Communist rule in 1997. Yuddy can encompass the problems that Hong Kong experiences regarding post-colonialism. He is fluid and malleable, moving from one woman to another without establishing any emotional connection with. Similarly, Hong Kong has that same fluidity, it moves between East and West without ever establishing its own position.  Yuddy, who has been living under his adopted mother, is searching for the identity of his birth mother – a parallel to Hong Kong’s search for its own culture.

I enjoyed the scenes where the policeman Tide (Andy Lau) and Li Zhen casually wander the streets of Hong Kong at nighttime. Tide uses this moment to share his dreams about becoming a sailor, while Li Zhen is able to find a source of comfort by having someone there for her. These types of moments are so simple and yet so beautiful. You get that sense of timelessness at that particular moment. In the scheme of things, both characters go off in separate directions after that night. A very tragic scene is when Li Zhen rings the payphone to speak to Tide but she doesn’t get answer.  Tide would used to wait outside the payphone kiosk for her call, but he ends up leaving Hong Kong before she calls him. Tide ends up pursuing a career in sailing and bumps into Yuddy in the Philippines.  

Tide (Andy Lau) and Li Zhen (Maggie Cheung)

The film relies on its characters to motivate a plot that is never clear-cut to begin with, which is similar to In the Mood for Love. I’ve noticed that apprehensiveness is a destructive trait in some characters of the film, working nicely with Wong Kar-wai’s emphasis on time since apprehensiveness leads to delay.  Tide is unwilling to act on his hidden love for Li Zhen, but in the end, runs out of time. This also applies to Yuddy's best friend Zeb, who falls in love with another one of Yuddy's women, Mimi. However, the film is primarily focused on the theme of rejection and how people deal with it. 

Here's an excerpt from a film review which I found very insightful as it provides some social critique. It's about how the film displays ideas of a lack of self worth and self pity throughout the film. 

"The two female leads are young and naïve and not able to be see through Yuddy’s deception. They cling to a man who mistreats them and rejects them. Instead of accepting his true personality the women chase after him, and attempt to fight for his affection. The women’s lack of self confidence makes them yearn for an individual that berates and mistreats them. This aspect of the film is a direct reference to the mindset of many young Chinese women of that time, and it is a mindset that still holds true today."

Through watching different types of Asian films, I’ve become more appreciative of these experimental types of films - ones that are very ambiguous in nature and leave you pondering the events of the film. Days of Being Wild is best watched as part of the trilogy; things make more sense after you watch In the Mood for Love and you find many parallels between the two films.

Anyway, I’ve only touched on bits and pieces of Days of Being Wild in this post – there’s a lot more to appreciate about the film.

It's been called one of the best Hong Kong films produced, so it is definitely worth watching if you have the time!

Visualising the Global City in China’s Sixth Generation Cinema

Texts examined:

• The World ［世界］ (2004) - Jia Zhang-ke
  Full Movie with English subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AERTp5iE0DY 

I found The World to be a very interesting and intriguing film as it focuses on the mundane and everyday aspects of life in a ‘globalising’ China – turns out to be a key feature of the early Sixth Generation films. Though the plot may be a little convoluted at times, there was much to like about the film. The cinematography was very impressive. Regarding the plot, I was particularly fascinated by the relationship between Tao (Chinese) and Anna (Russian). I think this relationship is significant in that it sheds light on how globalization has affected China on many different levels.

Although both characters can’t speak each other’s native languages, communication between the two still takes place – at one stage, they even sing to each other.  Both are ignorant the language barrier that confronts them – it does not stop them from becoming friends. 

Tao (Zhao Tao) and Anna (Alla Shcherbakova) having a moment 

A scene that comes to mind is when they are chatting to each other while having a drink. Anna tells Tao about how she has to sell herself in order to raise money to visit her sister, in which Tao replies with: “I envy you, you can go abroad, what freedom!” Perhaps Anna’s decision to sell herself and engage in prostitution indirectly represents the Western ideals that have influenced post-Socialist China – ideas such as commercialization and marketization. A significant change has been China opening itself up to international trade. I think Tao’s response is quite misguided when she is envious of Anna’s plans to travel abroad – Tao doesn’t understand what Anna has to go through in order to reach her end goal. This somewhat parallels what China is experiencing, with globalization appearing as an enticing concept, however, it doesn’t come without its hardships. Anna represents the Western influence that clashes and collides with the East (symbolized by Tao) and their language differences provide the barrier for a truly symbiotic relationship to work.

In an interview with Jia Zhang Ke, the director implies that The World was an indictment on the ‘modernization’ and globalization that is occurring in modern day China. He notes that China will have to make sacrifices before it becomes ‘wealthy’. The rise of global capitalism has seen many companies from big countries benefit from China’s cheap labour resources – the workers are seen as the ‘victims of globalisation’ (the sacrifice). They work dangerous jobs, ridiculously long hours and earn minimum wages. This is manifest in The World through the financial situation of the workers at the Beijing World Park, living in crowded dorm rooms on the periphery of the city.

In lives of the characters in the film seem so repetitive – they go through the same motions, perform the same dances – there is a sense of them being trapped in this ‘fabricated’ world.  It’s all appearances, says Jia Zhangke, who notes that China only appears modern externally with many internal problems. Nevertheless, the film still passed censorship from the Chinese government – I see it as more of a portrayal of the current situation in China, without offering any solutions as to how it can be improved.

The scene where Tao bumps into Anna in the bathroom at a karaoke bar left an impression on me. Tao realizes Anna has become a prostitute and both end up crying to each other, not knowing what the other person is thinking. I thought this moment was very poignant – the film does well to capture the ‘momentness’ of a moment such as the one mentioned.

Overall, The World really opened my eyes on the effects of globalisation in China, and particularly the effects on its people.  The film felt very real - it was as if you were actually living the life of a Chinese person during China's modernisation. It was a life of repetition - a routined lifestyle, performing the same dances, going through the same motions day in day out.  I was really touched by the story of Tao (who was played by Zhao Tao). She's trapped in this fake world and there seems to be no way out - you can't not feel sorry for her.   

The interview with Jia ZhangKe is quite interesting and can be found here: http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2004/09/int-s29.html

Further reading: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/01/movies/01worl.html?_r=0

Which film is truly Chinese?

Texts examined:

• Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon ［卧虎藏龙］(2000) - Ang Lee
• Hero ［英雄］(2002) - Zhang Yimou

Maggie Cheung stars as Flying Snow, a skilled assassin in Hero

With most films today, it is difficult to isolate a single national identity to them because of a complex nature in film production, distribution and reception that transcends national borders. In one of the readings in Week 4, Mark Harrison suggests that in light of the transnational nature of cinema, Chinese filmmakers are encouraged to produce films that showcase an ‘imagined Chinese experience’ in order to appeal to a non-Chinese audience.

There are ambiguities over how China is represented in films such as Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon – a film that has sparked debate as to whether or not it is truly Chinese in nature.  The film introduces us to the issue of how Chinese films represent China to both itself and to the Western world. I was also compelled to watch Zhang Yimou’s Hero (2002), a film made the same time as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon but offers something completely different.

The contrast between Crouching Tiger and Hero could almost be analogized as a boxing match. In the blue corner is Crouching Tiger, an American-Chinese-Hong Kong-Taiwanese co-production with influences from Malaysia (Michelle Yeoh), evidently addresses China and the rest of the world. It portrays a fantastical version of the Chinese experience – and it has done extremely well to please the non-Chinese audience, being the most commercially successful foreign-language film in US history. In a sense, Crouching Tiger has been translated for Western audiences as Lee tries to decode the beauty of China into a form that can be understood and appreciated by a global audience. Perhaps it is this approach is the reason why it wasn’t well received by the mainland audience because it results in losing touch of China’s cultural authenticity. Some Chinese values such as filial piety and obedience have been translated for the Western audience to individualism (in Jade Fox’s mocking of Lee and Yu’s Eastern practices) and feminism (in its focus on female characters). Another example is the inclusion of a story of love, tragedy and redemption, which was melodramatic and cheesy at times – elements that are typically Hollywood-esque.

In the red corner is Hero, which can be interpreted as an “emphatic and wholly deliberate response by mainland cultural producers to both the globalization of Chinese culture and the presumption of other ‘Chinas’ to speak for China”. The story is about a nameless assassin’s journey to assassinate Emperor Qin, through a series of flashbacks. In contrast with Crouching Tiger, Hero isn’t a well-made story as it doesn’t have any sort of clear plot and there doesn’t seem to be much character development – there is a lot of fighting though. The use of Mandarin is more tolerated in Hero since most stars are from the mainland, compared to Crouching where some stars have ‘laughable accents’. I believe the film is more directed to the Chinese audience rather than to a global stage. It attempts to glorify China in a different way, by promoting the state-run political ideology as a form of propaganda. It promotes authoritarianism as being quintessential to bringing a sense of national identity to the people of China.  Without spoiling the film, the ‘hero’s’ ultimate decision at the end of the film is one that would not bode well in the West but would be praised in the East. In this sense, I think the East-West dichotomy is brought out.

Zhang Yimou would have had global considerations since he uses stars like Jet Li who are well known in Hollywood, but my viewpoint is that Crouching Tiger uses it as a focal point whereas Hero it is less of a concern.  

For those who haven’t seen Hero, it is a good film even if you don’t look at the deeper meaning of it– it stars Jet Li, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi and Donnie Yen (some of the regulars of Asian Cinema) and the fight scenes are pretty intense.

Which film did people enjoy more: Crouching Tiger or Hero?

Further Reading: Mark Harrison, “Zhang Yimou’s Hero and the Globalisation of Propaganda,” Millennium – Journal of International Studies, 34: 2 (February 2006), pp. 569-572.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog!

I will be seeing the world for the first time this year. I start off by visiting Greater China (PRC, Hong Kong and Taiwan) for 3 weeks. Then, I will be heading off to Europe for 5 months, where I begin an exchange program, studying at Manchester Business School in the United Kingdom. I hope to share my amazing experiences through this blog.

Currently, I am taking a third-year subject at university called Asian Cinema and Media. The subject focuses on contemporary Asian cinema and media with a special emphasis on their transnational aspects. The focus is on transnational cinema and media of the East Asia Region, including People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. I am required to write blog posts about the topics discussed in class. I will put up all the posts that I have written for this subject. 

I would like to continue blogging about the Asian cinema and media that I watch in my spare time. I'm also really interested in Chinese culture so I may also blog about that as well. 

2014 will be a cracking year for me. I hope you enjoy reading my posts.