Master blaster
The director best known for his crime thrillers promises another Hollywood-inspired blitzkrieg in the upcoming Wind Blast. Liu Wei reports
"I am not copying Hollywood, I am learning from it and using it in my own way," says 44-year-old director Gao Qunshu, best known for his TV crime series and the spy thriller, The Message.
His latest film, Wind Blast, belongs to the same genre, with a story revolving around four legendary policemen and two brutal killers. But the tone is fresh, with bits thrown in from US Westerns, gangster and action films.
It is not hard to find shades of John Ford, Sergio Leone and Quentin Tarantino in the Gobi desert settings, the intense action sequences and the car chases.
Most of the critics Gao invited to the pre-screenings spoke highly of the action scenes, but some called it a crude attempt to copy Hollywood.
But the filmmaker, known for his outspokenness and quick temper, remains unruffled.
"Let them say I am copying if they like," he says. "But is it that shameful to copy something that has existed for a 100 years and been successful across the world?
"It's like in painting. We have to admit that we are still in the phase of pencil sketching and copying the classics."
And the first thing to learn from Hollywood, Gao says, besides the storytelling and technical wizardry, is to know that one is making films for a paying audience.
"Only three directors in China, Feng Xiaogang, Ning Hao and Zhang Yimou, make films for the audience, others just make films for themselves," he says. "To me, film is first of all a commodity. You have to know what your customers like."
And what Chinese audiences like is action, gunshots and an exciting story that is not too hard to understand, Gao adds.
"Life is not easy, all the audience wants is cinema that allows a terrific two hours away from the realities of life," he says.
Gao's career began in the 1980s in a small TV station in North China, where he had access to all the videotapes in the local market. His first work was a horror film - a result of a simple belief that "I can do better than this" after watching numerous films.
It never made its way to the cinemas, but the videotapes earned him some money and the confidence to continue.
"Now you know why I believe film is first of all a commodity," he says.
In 1994, he made two TV series both based on real criminal cases in China, earning him a reputation as the best director of the genre. His 2003 TV crime drama Conquest was also a smash hit.
"Suddenly, both policemen and gangsters became very polite to me," he recalls.
His formidable TV reputation gave him access to the big screen. He directed two films, one on a policeman's dramatic disposal of a bomb and the other on the Tokyo trials after World War II. In 2009, he co-directed The Message, which grossed 200 million yuan ($32 million).
After years of shooting police stories, Gao says, he really knows the world now.
Research for his crime dramas led him to read the dossiers of more than 30 big cases and talk to all the policemen who handled them. He also talked to more than 50 criminals awaiting execution.
"Both policemen and criminals are nothing like the stereotypes we assume," he says. "Audiences do not like to see stereotypes, either. They like to see real humans."
Many killers had led very tragic lives, Gao says. Some criminals are obsessed with philosophy books, while others are passionate about social issues. The policemen too, Gao adds, are first and foremost real persons.
In Wind Blast, the four policemen are named after four animals - Leopard, Tibetan Mastiff, Yak and Antelope - each with his distinctive personality. They are not the typical heroes of Chinese films and TV, but people with human weaknesses, faced with desperate moments in a fatal chase of killers in the desert.
Leopard is an experienced commander, but he is not good at solving problems quickly. His team member Mastiff, however, is a close-lipped shooter with a yen for the shortest cut to solutions. Yak eats 20 eggs and two bowls of noodles at every meal and is an exceptional fist-fighter, but lacks flexibility and a sense of strategy. Antelope is a master of the martial arts, who can go full throat on the most perilous of mountain roads, yet is imprudent and often puts the entire plan at risk.
Each of them has his own troubles - worries about his relationship with his wife, the chances of promotion, his health and so on.
"I may be employing Hollywood's techniques, but every character is very Chinese," the director says. "I believe audiences will like them."
The Hollywood fan displays no misgivings when talking about a WTO ruling that by March 2011, China should open up its market more to US entertainment goods. He is ready for the competition.
"It is time to confront it," he says. "You have to fight it face-to-face to know what you lack, just like in Wind Blast."
The film will premiere on Oct 28.
