For Chinese-language film aficionados, the Loew film series at the Hopkins Center has Hong Kong cinema as the theme for this term.
For the better part of the last 50 years, East Asian cinema has been synonymous with Japanese films. Until recently, Japanese-language films were the most visible cinematic products from East Asia playing in film festivals and art-house circuits in the West. Visionary Japanese directors like Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu have added to the cinematic language and represented their culture with great skill. In recent years, as the output from Japan has faltered, visibility for another East-Asian cinema -- Chinese-language cinema -- has escalated.
In the last two decades, Chinese-language cinema has been rapidly gaining in popularity in the West as more and more Chinese-language films are given a wide release here.
Unlike Japanese-language films, there is no single place of geographic origin for this burgeoning genre. Chinese-language cinema can be subdivided into three separate national cinemas: Hong Kong cinema, Taiwanese cinema and the cinema of mainland China. In the past 50 years, these three industries have developed independently of each other.
During the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, Chinese cinema suffered a severe setback as older films were banned and few new films were produced. The industry was revived in the 1980s, concurrent with the increasing market liberalization enacted by the Communist Party, as Chinese directors were given more freedom to express themselves. Once confined to propaganda films, Chinese directors have since adopted a more liberal approach and taken to creating films that represent distinctive Chinese culture in all its glory.
It was also during this period that Chinese films first infiltrated Western shores. Notable filmmakers of this era include Zhang Yimou, Xie Jin, Tian Zhuanzhuang and Chen Kaige.
Yimou in particular has been incredibly prolific during the last two decades, directing critically acclaimed films such as "Raise The Red Lantern" (1991), "Huozhe" (1994), "Not One Less" (1999), "Ying Xiong" (2002) and "House of Flying Daggers" (2004).
"Huozhe" (known as "To Live" in the United States) was a landmark film for Chinese cinema. It won several accolades at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, including the Grand Prize of the Jury, considered second only to the Golden Palm. A heart-wrenching account of the trials and tribulations of one Chinese family from the 1940s to the 1980s, the film works beautifully as both a historical chronicle and a deeply personal story of survival against the unpredictability of the world.
Yimou originally worked as a photographer and his trademark visual flair is apparent in all his films. While "To Live" and "Not One Less" were filmed in the neo-realist tradition, his later works have been more fantastical.
"House of Flying Daggers," Yimou's latest -- and best -- film opened to excellent critical response last year. Set during the Tang Dynasty in China, the film is a story about a member of the underground alliance known as the "House of Flying Daggers" that opposes the Emperor. At its heart a love story, the film is also works as a martial-arts epic and espionage thriller.
Such genre-combinations are typical of Yimou, who mixed action with moralistic drama in his previous film "Ying Xiong." Known as "Hero" in the United States, the film is set in ancient China and relates in a series of flashbacks how a nameless warrior defeated three famous assassins out to kill the Emperor. The visual artistry is dazzling, as are the performances. The gravity-defying, on-rails action sequences are a sight to behold. It seems only fitting that Yimou employs a "Rashomon" style to tell his story.
The exploration of the nature of truth is something that has pervaded most of Yimou's work. He often captures character conflicts in a nontraditional manner, resorting to stodgy framing when filming conversations.
Both "House of Flying Daggers" and "Ying Xiong" were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
While Chinese filmmakers have only recently been given greater freedom of expression, filmmakers in neighboring Taiwan, unburdened by government censorship, have upheld a rich cinematic tradition for decades. One of the more famous Taiwanese film-makers is Ang Lee, whose "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000) created waves on American shores when it was released. It quickly became the highest-grossing foreign-language film in the United States.
American audiences were enamored with the unconventional martial-arts action sequences -- a mainstay of Chinese cinema -- later seen in "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers." Other films by Lee include the charming "Eat Drink, Man Woman," an East Asian take on generational conflicts, and "The Wedding Banquet," a romantic comedy involving a gay Taiwanese couple set in New York.
While the Chinese-language film industries of Taiwan and China release only a modest number of films per year, their counterpart in Hong Kong is a global goliath. Third behind Hollywood and Bollywood (Indian film industry) in yearly output, Hong Kong cinema has been prominent around the world for many decades.
John Woo is one of the more famous recent alums of the Hong Kong film industry. Although recently he has helmed mostly English-language features, he first gained distinction in the 1980s with his hard-hitting action films. His resume includes famous "A Better Tomorrow" (1986), "The Killer" (1989) and "Hard Boiled" (1992). Characterized by overly stylized action sequences, his work has had a profound effect on action films both in the United States and abroad.
The market for Chinese-language films has a grown considerably recently. "The House of Flying Daggers" has raked in more than $84 million worldwide since release and "Hero" held the number one position at the American box office for two consecutive weeks.
"House of Flying Daggers" and "Hero" have recently been released for the home-video market with Special Edition DVDs. For the uninitiated, Chinese-language cinema is now more available than ever and any of the above would be a fine place to start.
