As the world becomes ever more globalized, every aspect of social, economic and cultural life is subject to change and influence from the outside world, the film industry is no exception.
More and more Chinese elements are now being incorporated into American movies such as Kungfu Panda. And Chinese directors are increasingly trying to adopt a more Hollywood style of movie-making.
Last week saw movie makers from China and the United States sit together and discuss this fast changing industry at the U.S.-China Forum on Arts and Culture, which was held in Beijing from November 16-19, 2011.
The forum was the first of its kind and drew a great deal of attention as a number of big names attended the event—American actress Meryl Streep, director Joel Coen, Lu Chuan, a leading Chinese director, and Ge You and Liu Ye, two stars of Chinese cinema, all attended the event.
Most of those who attended the forum were from Chinese and international filmmaking circles. Among the seven panels held during the four-day forum, three concerned movie making and two movies were shown: True Grit directed by Joel Coen and The Iron Lady starring Meryl Streep.
“During the forum, we talked paintings, we talked novels and of course we talked about food, but mainly we talked about mov- ies. It was a lot of fun,” said Mark Danner, a U.S. writer who gave the opening speech at a panel attended by American directors Joel Coen and David Fanning as well as Chinese movie directors Lu Chuan and He Ping.“Every time when we watch movies, we sit in the darkness and focus all our attention on a lighted screen, becoming soaked in the story it tells, it’s a miracle.”
What story to tell?
“As movie directors, we have to make choices all the time—what stories do we want to tell?” said Lu Chuan famed for the highly acclaimed Mountain Patrol(2004) and City of Life and Death (2009).“Sometimes, I rely on my own thought and instincts to make the choice.”
Lu took Mountain Patrol as an example.“I learnt the news on the preservation of Tibetan antelope from the newspapers, which gave me the inspiration for the film.”As a Beijing native, Lu then moved to Hoh Xil in the Tibetan Plateau and stayed with the local people. During his time there, he wrote dairies to record events and moments that touched him.
“The movie is based on a true story and I incorporated some of the events from my diaries in the movie as well,” said Lu.
But truth in movies is a very subjective thing. Joel Coen, who directed the enormously successful movie Fargo, which was released in 1996, disclosed that he had not been entirely honest with his audience. “At the beginning of the movie we announced that the film is based on a true story. But actually it’s not,” said Coen.
“We didn’t want to lie, but we did because we used a very original and creative narrative that we didn’t think our audiences would accept if they thought it was fiction.”
Danner expressed his sympathy with Coen’s dilemma. He told audiences about his time reporting in Iraq, “The truth sometimes is more unbelievable than a made-up story. We use reality as a crutch to support the improbability of the story,” he said.
Danner said he realized while reporting in Iraq that truth is a very difficult thing to apprehend.
“Before I went to Iraq, from thousands of miles away, I thought I already knew the problems and disasters I would encounter in Iraq, and I felt I had a concrete conception of what the Iraq war was from the news,” he said. “But after I arrived there, I started interviewing people and traveling. It was intense. I was making every effort I could, but all of a sudden, I realized that I knew nothing. This is the moment I treasure as a reporter—I get the whole idea of Iraq but I don’t know a thing.”
“After that, you start building a picture of Iraq based on what you have personally seen and experienced,” said Danner.
Lu went through the same process when
making the movie City of Life and Death, which he based on the massacre of Chinese civilians by the Japanese army that occurred in Nanjing City in 1937. Lu said he spent two and a half years collecting material, interviewing victims and soldiers before making the movie. “This movie is based on facts for sure and my job is to select bits from all the material I gathered and tell a complete story,” said Lu. “All the characters involved in this movie did exist and I tell the audience what happened to them at the end of the movie with subtitles.”
Director He Ping, who is better known for making martial arts fiction movies, said that whether a story is based on facts or not is not important for his type of movie. “As long as the audience believes it is rational or reasonable, it is alright,” said He. “Even in martial arts or movies which are often pure fiction, people still expect the movie to be rational and authentic, not necessarily the story itself but the emotions involved in it.”
“Sometimes, my inspiration comes from reading stories in the newspapers,” said He.“If I am touched by a story I read, I will consider involving it in my movies.”
He compared making movies to dancing.“The form is actually not that important. Be it ballet or disco or folk dancing, as long as it conveys the right information and can touch the audience, it is good.”
Modern Industry
Coen still remembers the first movie he made using an old, clunky camera at home. “I think that first film was just as good as what I produced in the studio later. So the tools are not that important to me,” he said.
“Tools are not a problem. It is much easier to be a film maker now as many people can afford to purchase the equipment, which is now lighter and easier to move than before,” said Lu.
Damian Woetzel, a producer and director of dance and music performances echoed this sentiment. “Everybody who has an iPhone or similar device is making films. I notice that in many cases—it seems people are not experiencing something unless they are recording in some way,” said Woetzel.
“My kids can even edit movies using an Apple computer. I think it’s great that every body has the chance to gain access to this industry. But not everybody with a pen can be a writer, and the same applies to movies,” said Coen. “Creativity and content are always the most important things.”
“The threshold for entering this industry is getting lower and lower, but that doesn’t mean making movies is getting easier and easier. I sometimes hear young directors talking about becoming top-class directors as if that were not a difficult thing to achieve. In my opinion, this is actually making the industry even more difficult to succeed as there is now so much competition,” said Lu.
However, one thing that seems assured is the industry’s bright future.
Lu said that 10 years ago, almost all the movies in China were sponsored by big state-owned film companies. Since 2000, however, private companies have come to dominate the industry and invested in many movies with good box office returns. For Lu’s movie City of Life and Death, the investment came from state-owned companies as well as private companies, from both the mainland and Hong Kong.
Cooperation between directors from China and abroad has also increased over the past few years.
In 2009, Chinese director Zhang Yimou made a movie A Simple Noodle Story, a revised version of the Coen Brothers’ movie Blood Simple. “It was an interesting experience watching the Chinese version of Blood Simple. Maybe in the future I will make an American version of Zhang’s movie Red Sorghum,” said Coen.