Reviews
DVD
Yang Ban Xi
Directed by Yan Ting Yuen
This documentary about China's "eight model operas" during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76) is at once a whimsical glimpse into a special genre and a bygone age and an out-and-out failure at capturing the ambivalence that many Chinese of a certain generation hold for them.
Technically it is a fiasco. The title translation is so out of whack that at one point the year a person was born was mistaken for his age. Also, the interviewer doesn't seem to have rudimentary knowledge of what these operas meant at a time when everything else was outlawed.
Madam Mao's voice-over is a gimmick that elicits uncomfortable laughter. There are narrations like "I want beauty" set at a time when the word "beauty" itself was pejorative. And the casting of a group of youngsters who dance to hip-hop mixes of the operas' familiar tunes provided a counterpoint that screamed "See? I'm so clever! I can transpose one era upon another!"
Ironically the movie picked two of the best stars from the genre, who on other occasions had given scathing and heart-rending accounts of what they went through. If you're interested in the subject, watch the interviews done by Phoenix TV in 2005. They are much more insightful.
Raymond Zhou
In Her Shoes
Directed by Curtis Hanson, starring Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette, Shirley MacLaine
Although it takes Hanson a good half hour to make it clear this is not a soppy flick, the next 100 minutes turn out surprisingly rewarding as the characters break out of the stereotypes they started with.
Maggie Feller (Diaz) is a blond bimbo who can't find a job because of reading difficulties. Her elder sister Rose (Collette) is a plain-Jane lawyer who buries herself in paperwork.
The twist comes with their grandma Ella (MacLaine) who has been kept away by their protective father since their mother's tragic death. The absent mother leaves a powerful impression as she lies in the center of the whole family's problems. Gradually the sisters discover their mother's secrets: how she yearned for a normal life but couldn't escape her doom.
The movie's key scenes feature Maggie chatting with elderly people, who offer humor and understanding. A blind professor gently helps Maggie read poems and regain confidence. Hanson skilfully turns poems by Elizabeth Bishop and E.E. Cummings into big emotional payoffs.
Liu Jun
Art
Pandaman's new move
Since the 1990s, Beijing-based artist Zhao Bandi has been popular for his funny and insightful photographs of himself and his toy panda. These pictures are usually coupled with wise-cracking captions in speech bubbles. "I realized panda's potential as a spokesperson, through him, I could talk about culture and society in a soft, humorous way," Zhao said.
Recently, Zhao has expanded his art projects to involve not only his usual toy panda but also "panda boys" and "panda girls" (actors and actresses in panda-shaped costumes as pictured). The latest project of the "pandaman" was staged in late April at three car factories near Shanghai. It featured a meeting with factory workers, a costume parade in the workshop and ballet dances.
The project, which started as a performance art involving hundreds of auto workers and a dozen "panda boys" and "panda girls", will be turned into a movie. Also, according to Zhao, a host of photos will go on show in several Chinese art galleries in the coming months.
Zhu Linyong
(China Daily 05/23/2007 page20)
