Howard Ho wishes everyone a belated Chinese New Year!
Born a monkey, he can be reached at palmtree@ucla.edu. Click Here for
more articles by Howard Ho
Chinese filmmakers and actors have certainly affected films in
America. For once, the label “Made in China” has
positive connotations, rather than the implication of sweatshop
labor.
The list of great people goes on and on. Jackie Chan is awesome
and Jet Li kicks ass, perpetuating the stereotype that all Asians
know martial arts. “Crouching Tiger” director Ang Lee
is now making “The Hulk,” potentially another empty
Hollywood franchise film. Hurrah for Chinese people! Hurrah!
Yes, Chinese people have become a presence on the silver screen,
but there are caveats to such statements. Where are the Chinese
dramatic leading men and ladies? Where are the Chinese directors
who are praised by critics but get the most limited film
distribution and advertising?
The answer to those questions is obvious: They’re in
China! If you want leading men, you can choose from Chow Yun-Fat
and Tony Leung. For leading women you have Gong Li and Maggie
Cheung. As for directors, Ang Lee, Zhang Yimou (“Shanghai
Triad”), and Chen Kaige (“Farewell My Concubine”)
have all had films nominated for that small award known as the
Oscar.
Even so, one wonders why they remain so obscure. Is it a vast
conspiracy keeping you from knowing about and seeing good
stuff?
Perhaps there’s no conspiracy, but Chinese films get no
institutional help from Hollywood. For example, Ang Lee’s
“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (made for $15 million)
earned less than $1 million in its opening weekend in American
theaters on only 16 screens.
Compare this to “Pearl Harbor” (made for $150
million), which was initially released to 3214 theaters in the
United States alone and generated $75 million in its opening
weekend.
“Pearl Harbor’s” 3198-screen edge over
“Crouching Tiger” means that those in big cities like
Los Angeles and New York saw the latter, but filmgoers in smaller
cities only read about it. Had the whole world lined up to see the
film, 16 screens could still not generate half of what “Pearl
Harbor” earned its opening weekend. It stinks when
distributors like Sony Pictures Classics, which released
“Crouching Tiger,” did not dare risk a wide release
until the mass audience virtually demanded it. Its gross of $128
million made “Crouching Tiger” the most bankable
foreign film of all time, with an even higher profit margin than
“Pearl Harbor.”
Of course, “Crouching Tiger” represents a special
case. The perfect marriage of mature filmmaking, Chinese period
dramas and Hong Kong martial arts films, “Crouching
Tiger” has become the benchmark for action choreography. Yet
people who loved ““ or even hated ““ the excessive flying
and swordplay need not give up on other Chinese films.
Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Bruce Lee have done oodles to get
recognition for Chinese filmmakers, but they are only the tip of
the iceberg. Ang Lee also made smaller films, such as “The
Wedding Banquet” and “Eat Drink Man Woman”
““ both Oscar nominees. Wong Kar Wai’s films, such as
“Chungking Express,” catapulted Tony Leung into People
magazine’s sexiest newcomer of 2000. John Woo, who seems to
have made a Faustian bargain with Hollywood on “Mission
Impossible 2,” has made substantial Hong Kong films, such as
“A Better Tomorrow,” with inventive action, dynamic
characters and story to boot.
It’s true that Chinese films cannot match the dazzling
special effects of their American competitors or Hollywood’s
advertising blitzkriegs. Yet, what Sinowood lacks in finances, it
makes up for with creativity. Jackie Chan’s body itself is a
special effect, able to do stunts such as jumping off tall
skyscrapers and using an umbrella to hang off a moving bus. Of
course, these stunts would be easier and less dangerous if Chan had
safety precautions or computer graphics, but hey, he didn’t
have the money for it.
Creativity also finds itself in auteur films, especially in
Taiwan. Along with Ang Lee, directors such as Edward Yang
(“Yi Yi”), Hou Hsiao Hsien (“Flowers of
Shanghai”) and Tsai Ming Liang (“Vive
L’Amour”) grew up in Taiwan and make it the subject of
their films. Like Kubrick and Altman, the new Taiwanese auteurs
feature personal stories, characters and styles. In fact,
Tsai’s new film “What Time is it There?” has the
same actor playing the same character in all his films. The
film’s run in L.A. ended after a week, yet another example of
bad distribution.
Some Chinese films are so creative and progressive that they
have yet to be shown in China. While Hollywood films such as
“Titanic” are often shown there, Chinese-made movies
may not be. An example is Wang Xiao Shuai’s “Beijing
Bicycle,” currently showing in L.A. A film critical of the
poverty and chaos in Beijing, it has yet to pass the Chinese
censorship boards, which characteristically demand patriotic or
sentimental messages and happy endings ““ sounds like
Hollywood, doesn’t it?
In many cases, the Chinese film playing in your cinema was
banned from China itself. You as an American have the potential to
see more Chinese films than a person in China does. Take advantage
of this phenomenon before the stench of martial arts stereotypes
““ “Kung Pow,” anyone? ““ has become
indelible.