Screen Time: Zhang's Big Year, Soft Power and Docos from North Korea

Zhang Yimou has rounded off an eventful year with a box-office success – his recently-released remake of the Coen Brothers’ Blood Simple, entitled A Simple Noodle Story. The Global Times reported earlier this month on the film’s first three nights of release:

“The film earned 11.1 million yuan ($1.63 million) in prescreening Thursday night [December 10] and another 21 million yuan ($3.08 million) Friday when it premiered on 4,600 screens across the country… Saturday's box office exceeded 35 million yuan ($5.13 million).”

Reviews for the film have been mixed however, and no-one is claiming A Simple Noodle Story represents a return to Zhang’s heyday of the 1980 and 90s, when films like Red Sorghum (1987), To Live (1994) and Shanghai Triad (1995) stunned audiences with their revelatory stories, rich thematics and stunning use of color.

The Financial Times recently ran one of the rare interviews Zhang gives these days, in which the filmmaker defended himself against critics who claim he has become a little to close to the powers-that-be. “I am still an independent artist,” Zhang asserts. “My life has not changed at all.” Hard to believe things haven’t changed just a wee bit for the man whose films were once banned, and who now directs celebratory military parades for the country’s leaders.

Later in the article, Zhang says, “The more independent an artist is, the more special or unique his or her work is.” Which perhaps explains why his recent films have been neither special nor unique, but rather grand, empty spectacles.

Speaking of Zhang, over the weekend UK newspaper The Times ran a particularly vacuous, cliché ridden piece of journalism entitled “Chinese stars poised to become household names,” an attempt, the article said, to “identify flair and innovation as well as sheer financial power in this complex, mystifying nation.”

Flaunting the newspaper’s in-depth knowledge of this “mystifying” land, The Times identified Zhang a figure who could “emerge as the greatest image-maker of modern China.” The piece features the mandatory reference to a “long march” and ends with a reference to Mao. It would be perfect for the chapter in journalist textbooks on how to write stupid articles on China without knowing anything about the place.

A much more incisive piece was published earlier this month by the Toronto-based Star.com, looking at the efforts of Chinese authorities to utilize the nation’s artists in the quest to increase China’s “soft power.” The article covers a range of issues and artistic forms, including film, noting the often ham-fisted way authorities encourage the “creative industries,” while attempting to control artistic expression.

The article quotes Beijing-based artist, curator and filmmaker Ou Ning, who discusses China’s independent documentary scene. A string of Chinese documentaries have garnered international attention over the past decade, such as Zhao Dayong’s recent Ghost Town, which debuted to great acclaim at the New York Film Festival in September. Unfortunately these films are rarely seen inside China itself. Ou Ning describes documentary as “the country's new frontier for individual expression.”

While we’re on the topic of film industry types being roped into China’s efforts to assert itself on the world stage, one of the more bizarre stories to come out of the shambles that was Copenhagen was movie star Jet Li steeping in at a side event for one of China’s official representatives at the talks, Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission Xie Zhenhua. According to one report, “Li charged the audience to think globally, emphasizing that he is ‘100 percent made in China but a citizen of the world.’” Unfortunately his stirring words didn’t seem to influence the outcome of the meeting.

Finally, some local film news. The China release of James Cameron’s multi-million dollar blockbuster Avatar has been put back two days to January 4, 2010.

While you’re waiting for Avatar to change your life, check out the trio of documentaries on North Korea screening at UCCA on Saturday, December 26 and Sunday, December 27. Produced by the local lads who run the Koryo Tours to North Korea, these three films offer a rare glimpse of life inside one of the world’s most isolated nations, and are highly recommended. You can view the screening schedule here.

Until next year – have a great Christmas and a good start to 2010!