Li Xing

Bring back endearing films with good plots

By Li Xing (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-12-29 06:57

Yesterday morning, a solemn and grand meeting was held at the Great Hall of the People to celebrate the centenary of Chinese films.

There is no crowd of movie fans to cheer the star directors, cinematographers, and actors and actresses, even though such crowds are commonly seen at film festivals and awards ceremonies worldwide.

Despite the lack of lustre and luxury, people like me, who grew up watching films instead of television with a passion from the 1960s and late 1970s onward, still want to follow the TV cameras and pick out the familiar faces.

They remind us of the roles they played and the stories they told, from the Qing Dynasty navy captain in "The Naval Battle of 1894" (1964) who fought the Japanese invading gunboats to the death to the petty reporter in "At the Crossroad" (1936) who brags about his "fortune" despite his humble state.

We cannot forget the amiable and devoted wife in "Spring River Flows East" (1947) who has endured eight years' hardship of war in an area occupied by the Japanese to single-handedly care for a big family. Nor can we erase from our memories the blunt but quick-witted woman village leader in "Li Shuangshuang" (1962) or the slave girl in "Red Detachment of Women" (1961).

However, most of the films that we can narrate and mimic were those we saw when we were teens or in our early 20s. The films made after the late 1980s do not seem to have made the same strong imprint in my memory as those older screen works.

My baby sister, 14 years my junior, recalls spending time in cinemas. However, the number of memorable films the stories and the personalities she recalls is far smaller.

My daughter and her friends have also paid their dues to a number of China-made "blockbusters" in recent years most of those being kung fu films.

When talking about the much-touted "The Promise," the latest home-made blockbuster with the biggest investment, she and her friends were very excited: "You cannot imagine how beautiful the scenes are. The use of colours is just beyond wildest imagination."

However, she became silent when asked what story the film tells and which characters impress the most.

Many who have seen "The Promise" say the director is too lame to share many of his philosophical thoughts with the movie-goers.

Indeed, star directors in recent years are seen to be pursuing the best cinematographic technology, the most dazzling scenery, or the wildest computer-generated images. The media have also added to the fanfare, bombarding audiences and readers with the big budgets, the techniques, the landscape and the behind-the-scenes stories of the stars.

But good stories with memorable protagonists the essential elements that make films long-lasting and endearing have been missing.

The heart-rending or intriguing plots have remained few and far between among Chinese films for so long that cinemas have lost appeal. Despite policy boosts and improvements in film showing, there has not been a dramatic increase in the number of movie-goers since its fall from tens of billions in the early 1980s to a mere 200 million last year.

Many have opted to buy VCDs or DVDs to see the films at home because the offerings are not good enough to warrant trips to theatres. Very few fans go back to the same film again and again to commit the stories, the personalities and their words to memory.

When we celebrate the achievements Chinese films have made over the past century, the major players in the film industry whether they are stars or not must recognize they have tremendous difficulties to overcome before the Chinese film can enjoy another of its prosperous periods.

They must discard some of their perceived "new pursuits" and return to the very basics of film-making: good story-telling and vivid portrayals of protagonists.

Email: lixing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 12/29/2005 page4)