DIRECTOR FINDS HIS TOUCH
With his latest epic, Legend of the Demon Cat, Chen Kaige, a leading figure among “China’s fifth-generation filmmakers”, has revived his reputation after a decade of flops. Xu Fan reports.
The set is like a child to me. I watched it transform from a dry image on paper to a dynamic place.” Chen Kaige, film director
Many European filmmakers say Chen Kaige is one of their favorite Chinese directors. But the man widely recognized for his Palme d’Or win for Farewell My Concubine has struggled for over a decade with a series of flops.
But with his latest epic, Legend of the Demon Cat, the leading figure among “China’s fifth-generation filmmakers” has revived his reputation.
The film released on Dec 22 has so far raked in nearly 500 million yuan ($76.9 million) at the box office and received 6.9 points out of 10 on Douban.com, the Chinese equivalent of IMDb.
The fictional story, adapted from a best-selling novel by Japanese author Yoneyama Mineo, is about a Tang Dynasty (618-907) poet teaming up with a Japanese Buddhist monk to probe the mysterious death of Yang Yuhuan, the beloved concubine of Emperor Li Longji.
Yang is one of the most legendary women in Chinese history, and her story has inspired dozens of movies and TV series over the decades.
Chen’s latest film stands out for its gorgeous scenes, which bring to life the former Chinese imperial capital Chang’an (now Xi’an in Shaanxi province) of 1,300 years ago, when it was the world’s most populous city.
So impressive are the sets that an online poll titled “Does the depiction of the Tang Dynasty in the Legend of the Demon Cat match your imagination?” has drawn in nearly 43,000 netizens, making the film and its sets one of the most-discussed topics on Douban, also the country’s most popular review site.
“The movie may have some flaws in the storytelling and characters, but it is a visual feast re-creating the prosperous dynasty in ancient China,” says one netizen, whose comment is echoed by many viewers.
With a budget of around 250 million yuan, Legend of the Demon Cat was shot mainly in Tang Cheng, a theme park with Tang-style architecture in Xiangyang, Hubei province.
The 170 million yuan complex was built for the film, and Chen was intimately involved in it.
Meanwhile, though most Hollywood blockbusters these days use computers to create a wonderland, Chen insisted on the old-school way with reallife sets.
For instance, he had 20,000 trees planted to create a lush view, besides building some palaces with round roofs and arch-like walls to symbolize the sun and the moon, to represent the power of imperial rulers.
“The set is like a child to me. I watched it transform from a dry image on paper to a dynamic place. It realized my dream of re-creating the Tang Dynasty on the big screen,” says Chen at a promotional event.
Chen is known for reinventing Chinese cinema by infusing poetry into it, and began doing this with his internationally acclaimed Yellow Earth (1984).
Literature and literary giants are key in the story of Legend of the Demon Cat. And the movie blends in household names, such as Tang poets Bai Juyi (772-846) and Li Bai (701762) besides the Japanese monk Kukai and scholar Abe no Nakamaro.
In the film, Bai is played by actor Huang Xuan. Kukai is played by Sometani Shota. And Japanese model-actor Hiroshi Abe is Nakamaro.
As for the concubine, Yang is portrayed as a woman with mixed parentage. Taiwan actress Sandrine Pinna, who has a French father and a Chinese mother, is Chen’s pick.
Referring to the film and its literary bent, Chen says the Tang empire had more than 10,000 poets who penned more than 40,000 poems, making the dynasty a golden age for poetry.
“The quality and quantity of poems written in the dynasty is unprecedented and unrivaled. And I believe Chinese cinema can benefit from the centuries-old legacy,” says Chen.
Speaking about the future, the 65-year-old director says he will remain innovative.