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Golden nuggets of the silver screen
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Chen Nan (China Daily)Updated: 2009-09-12 10:21 Filmmaker Zhang Yuan rose to fame as an enfant terrible, and for the past 20 years he has played the part to the hilt on the international scene. Hailed as a pioneer of China's sixth generation filmmakers, his 1990-debut, Mama, about a mother and her mentally impaired son is seen as the first independent film in China since 1949. After shooting the first music video for Chinese rock 'n' roll godfather Cui Jian, he made Beijing Bastards in 1994, which was shown at the Sundance Film Festival. His next film, Son, also blurred the line between fiction and documentary, winning prizes at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in 1996. Later, Zhang went on to do his most controversial work so far, China's first homosexual-themed movie, East Palace, West Palace. Banned from filmmaking in the mainland for years, Zhang finally proved his international success with 1999's Seventeen Years at the Venice Film Festival, before returning to the Chinese film scene. He also tried his hand at commercial films such as I Love You and Green Tea. In 2006, he made Little Red Flowers, which earned him a CICAE award at the Berlin Film Festival. He receded from public view after being detained in a drug scandal in January last year.
Now, with Dada's Dance, telling the story of a young woman who takes to the road after she is falsely told that her mother is not her birth mother, Zhang has returned. The movie, like Zhang's usual take on sensitive social issues, explores the rebellious girl's feelings of love, depression and hatred in her complicated life. The director captures all the emotional tensions knotted up inside the girl, Dada. The film was screened at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and opens at cinemas citywide tomorrow. Another sixth generation director Guan Hu, whose latest work, Dou Niu, or Cow, also opens in the mainland on the same day and will be shown at the Venice Film Festival this weekend. Set in the winter of 1940, the movie revolves around a peasant Niu Er, who is assigned the task of protecting his village's dairy cow. Even when Japanese troops attack the village, he remains committed to protecting the cow. The film, which stars mainland comedian Huang Bo and Yan Ni, is full of dry humor, set against the bleak background. Other film showing at cinemas including: Tian'an Men As one of the films celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of New China, Tian'an Men revolves around a team of stage workers given the task of renovating the Tian'anmen Rostrum a month before the founding ceremony for New China. Starring Pan Yueming and directed by Ye Daying. Chen Nan |
