The Garden Cinema presents a rare selection of masterpieces from Fifth Generation filmmaker Zhang Yimou’s early career, many of which have long been unavailable to screen in Europe. The result of four years of curatorial work, this retrospective provides UK audiences with a long overdue tribute to Zhang’s films.
Few directors in the history of cinema have attracted such a heated combination of critical adoration and condemnation, domestic and international commercial success, and a seemingly endless parade of conflicting interpretations of their films, as Zhang Yimou. His early body of work from the late 1980s to the mid ‘00s garnered him two Golden Lions, a Golden and a Silver Bear, the Cannes Grand Prix, two BAFTAs, three Oscar Best Foreign Film nominations, and, to this day, the fourth highest grossing non-English language film in the US. At the same time, commentators have branded his films with contrasting and incompatible critiques. He has been described as a nationalist who panders to the West; too culturally specific whilst exploiting Chinese history; a communist with fascist aesthetics; and always somehow both pro and anti-government. These simplistic binaries prompted a frustrated Zhang to publish an open letter asking for more nuance in such debates. The weight of public discourse around these films collapses the possibility of any single interpretation, and makes these allegorical readings highly unstable. This retrospective is thus an invitation to view Zhang’s films afresh, and appreciate them for their specific and collective artistic merits.
The entirety of the iconic ‘Red Trilogy’ will be screened as part of this season. These visually dazzling fables depict the hardships faced by women (all played by Zhang’s brilliant muse, Gong Li) sold into forced marriage. Red Sorghum (1988) is a wild adaptation of Nobel Prize winner Mo Yan’s brutal and romantic folk novel, whilst Ju Dou (1990) twists ideas of voyeurism into a deadly and beautiful technicolour-shot dream. And perhaps Zhang’s most acclaimed film, Raise the Red Lantern (1991, restoration UK premiere), places our heroine in a Bluebeard’s castle, a quasi-artificial cinematic realm where performance is tethered intricately to survival. Featuring alongside these early films is an overdue UK premiere of Wu Tianming’s Old Well (1986), which stars Zhang in a rare leading actor appearance, alongside his cinematographer duties (Zhang studied in the Faculty of Cinematography at the Beijing Film Academy). Old Well covers themes that Zhang will return to repeatedly in his own directorial work: the labour and hardships of rural communities, psychological and physical entrapment, and forbidden romance.
The Story of Qiu Ju (1992) marked a turn towards a style grounded in greater realism. Despite this, Qiu Ju sees the titular heroine (another wonderful Gong Li performance) in a stubborn battle against authority, and a mildly Kafkaesque legal system. This period of Zhang’s career is perhaps best encapsulated by two features he made back-to-back, Not One Less (1999) and The Road Home (1999). Viewed in the context of the baroque cruelties and tragic winds of history of his earlier films, the simple but profoundly moving romance of The Road Home is a beautiful palette cleanser, and the first of three collaborations with future icon Zhang Ziyi. Influenced by Italian Neorealism and Iranian New Wave cinema, Not One Less mirrors parts of Qiu Ju. A cast of non-professional actors play versions of themselves, with Wei Minzhi’s (who joins us for a Q&A on 10 August) spikey and sparkling performance as a 13-year-old teacher being especially remarkable. Alongside these ‘smaller’ narratives, Zhang made his much-revered historical epic To Live (1994, restoration UK premiere). Adapted from Yu Hua’s modern classic, few films have better encapsulated the excitement and terror of living through radical social upheaval. Furious at Zhang’s producers for failing to screen the film for the state regulators prior to its Cannes premiere, the authorities banned the film, and screenings in China remain scarce to this day. To this end, his next film, Shanghai Triad (1995), was supposed to act as a relatively unproblematic gesture. The 1920s setting and genre conventions allowed Zhang to work without interruption, and enabled him to return to some of his earlier interests: namely reflexive depictions of voyeurism, and female performance as a tool of power.
The season culminates with Zhang’s commercial peak, his two blockbuster wuxia films: Hero (2002) and House of Flying Daggers (2004). Featuring a galaxy of Hong Kong stars, and stunning cinematography by Christopher Doyle, the controversial question left to the viewer at Hero’s climax has been one of the major talking points of Zhang’s career. Less controversial, but just as virtuosic and ambitious, House of FlyingDaggers concludes our retrospective, and leaves us ultimately with the romantic side of Zhang’s filmmaking, uplifted from the hardships found in many of his historical dramas, immersed in a floating realm of fantasy and grace.
Booking for Zhang Yimou: A Retrospective is now open to members only, during our exclusive presale. General sales will open on Thursday 20 June at 18:00.
For my bimonthly column on popular culture and Macao for Macau Closer I decided I had some thoughts on how the reality and the idea of Macao runs through the novel and TV show of James Clavell’s Shogun like Brighton through rock….. click here to read…
Shed a tear – The ancient temple Narcissus Hall (水仙宫 Shuixiangong) stood in Shanghai old town at least since the year 1351. Now it is being demolished as Shanghai’s war on heritage continues. This is a tragedy of global heritage proportions.
Mortimer Menpes (1855-1938) was an Australian-born painter, author, printmaker and illustrator, disciple of Whistler and fascinated by Japan and its aesthetic. He visited and drew Japan many times over (and China occasionally too). His home at 25 Cadogan Gardens in Chelsea was a shrine to his passions and worth a few pictures…
You may know I wrote occasionally for the Mekong Review a fine quarterly newspaper of reviews thoughtful pieces poetry and imagery of Asian issues. But the Mekong Review needs your support so please consider subscribing either to the paper edition or the online version (or both)… subscription details here…
Thomas Lockley’s A Gentleman from Japan: The Untold Story of an Incredible Journey from Asia to Queen Elizabeth’s Court (Hanover Square Press) is an incredible story. Those interested in China may also want to read as it notes the service of one of the first Japanese to visit Britain in translating one of the first maps of China to fall into British hands (pirated off a Spanish Manila Galleon off California) in the 1580s – sadly now “lost” but perhaps one of master cartographer Luo Hongxian. the Britihs simly called it a “Mappe of China”. Naturally the Japanese “Christopher” was able to read the Chinese characters and amaze the British seaman with details such as Peking’s population, the size of China’s army etc. This was a century before the Jesuit scholar “Michael” Shen Fuzong arrived in England and to Oxford University.
“On November 12, 1588, five young Asian men–led by a twenty-one-year-old called Christopher–traveled up the River Thames to meet Queen Elizabeth I. Christopher’s epic sea voyage had spanned from Japan, via the Philippines, New Spain (Mexico), Java and Southern Africa. On the way, he had already become the first recorded Japanese person in North America. Now Christopher was the first ever Japanese visitor to England, and no other would leave such a legacy for centuries to come.”
Join online to hear how Deng Xiaoping ensured the continuation of China’s reforms with his Southern Tour in 1992. The legacy of the period is complicated, as Jonathan Chatwin will explain as he introduces his new book on Deng’s important mission. Don’t miss this dive into a critical moment in China’s near history that sometimes feels very far away.
ONLINE Tuesday 9th , 7pm-8pm Beijing Time
MORE ABOUT THE EVENT: At the age of 87, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping made his Southern Tour, which acted as an end chapter to his life story and to the first phase of China’s “reform and opening” campaign. After that, reform became a much more technocratic affair, and the narratives of the subsequent Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao eras were perceived as less historic in this regard. The public can still view Deng’s statue in Shenzhen, but the thirtieth anniversary of the Southern Tour in 2022 passed with hardly a mention. Jonathan will introduce his new book, The Southern Tour: Deng Xiaoping and the fight for China’s future, in which he traces the journey made by the theoretically retired leader in 1992, as Deng tried, against the odds, to kickstart reform.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jonathan Chatwin is a journalist and non-fiction writer. He holds a PhD in English Literature, and his first book was a literary biography of the travel writer and novelist Bruce Chatwin, to whom he is distantly related. More recently, Jonathan has written extensively on modern China and its history. His travel book Long Peace Street employed the device of a long walk along Beijing’s Chang’an Jie to explore the capital and its pivotal role in the national story. Jonathan’s work has appeared in CNN, the South China Morning Post and the BBC, amongst other publications. He is joined by English historian and broadcaster Michael Wood in this Zoom talk on his new book, The Southern Tour: Deng Xiaoping and the fight for China’s future.
Michael Wood is president of the Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding, an organisation founded in 1965 to promote understanding and friendship between the British and the Chinese peoples. His documentary, Du Fu: China’s Greatest Poet attracted praise in both the UK and China, and was turned into a book, The Story of China: A Portrait of a Civilisation and its People’ (Simon & Schuster), published in 2016.
HOW MUCH: This online event is free for members of RASBJ; RMB 50 for members of partner RAS branches; RMB 100 for non-members. You may find payment by Alipay easier than by WeChat. You can also pay by credit card. Interested in becoming an RASBJ member? Please sign up at https://rasbj.org/membership
HOW TO JOIN THE EVENT: No later than noon on 5th July, please click “Register” or “I will Attend” and follow the instructions. After successful registration and payment, you will receive a confirmation email. If you seem not to have received it, please check your spam folder.
Members of partner RAS Branches: Please register 72 hours in advance to allow time for membership verification. You’ll receive three emails from us: the first confirming receipt of your registration request, the second requesting payment, and the third confirming receipt of your payment. Please check your spam folder to ensure you see all RASBJ emails.
A profile in this weekends South China Morning Post magazine of Jo Lusby, my old editor and publisher Penguin China – what times back in Beijing!! click here…
