Strange Fates and Even Stranger Friendships
What do you get when you mix a surly non-Mandarin-speaking Westerner with a Hunanese shepherd, throw in some psychedelic yin-yang combat and a good ol’ alien abduction amidst desert snowfall, and then serve them all on the bleak Inner Mongolian grasslands? Apparently you get Thomas Mao, a highly conceptual, visually exhilarating film courtesy of poet/novelist Zhu Wen.
A lesser-known Sixth Generation filmmaker, Zhu has a well-stocked toolbox for creating unique visual worlds and populating them with original characters. Besides his literary talents, the filmmaker is also an experienced electrical engineer. The exposure to industry and technology made film an easy transition for him.
We asked how his approach to writing differs from his approach to filmmaking, and he confessed, “The biggest difference is that when I started writing, I was an adolescent. But when I started making films, I was already an adult. So it’s just like romance – your first love always seems special. But really, filming is a form of writing. It’s really hard to compare the two and they’re both great for allowing me to express myself.”
In this case, he chose to express his thoughts about culture clash by exploring the interactions between his real-life friends, painter Mao Yan and Luxembourgian diplomat Thomas Rohdewald. Besides inspiring the film, the pair also star as the main protagonists. “Can you think of anything more unusual? One guy takes note of this stranger and they end up maintaining a consistent friendship for over ten years. And it’s a relationship that bears the brushmarks of their souls – hard to explain and very mysterious,” says Zhu.
“When they’d known each other for five years, I pondered it all the time. During filming, it had been ten years and I was still pondering. How did these two earn their yuanfen?” Zhu’s exploration of unlikely friendships goes back to his essay, “A Boat Crossing,” where he plays on Buddhist ideas of yuanfen, or relational fate, suggesting that each chance encounter is earned through three lifetimes of discipline.
By the end of the short and action-packed Thomas Mao, Zhu has wormed a disconcerting thought into his audience’s minds: What is fiction, and what is real? Can we really control our fates?
When faced with the existential questions posed by such thrilling cinematic fare, what favorite theater snack does Zhu Wen turn to for comfort? “My nails.”
Bite your nails at Thomas Mao, which screens on May 6, 14-15, 21-22 and 28 at BC MOMA.