Zhang Yimou: Interviews

Description

Ranging from 1988 to 1999, this book includes interviews with the acclaimed Chinese director of such films as Red Sorghum (1987), Shanghai Triad (1995), and Not One Less (1999) and the trilogy Ju Dou (1990), Raise the Red Lantern (1992), and The Story of Qiu Ju (1992). Several of these interviews appear in English for the first time. Some come from Chinese-language periodicals, and a few have never been published until now. In these conversations with such notable critics as Michel Ciment, Robert Sklar, and Tam Kwok-Kan, Zhang Yimou discusses all his films and speaks candidly about his work both as a cinematographer and an actor. Certain topics-the symbolism in his use of color, the use of women protagonists in most of his films, his working relationships with the Taiwanese filmmakers Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Edward Yang-emerge many times in the interviews. He shows strong interests in literature and film adaptations of texts. Zhang speaks too of his work with the actress Gong Li and of her roles in six of his films, most of which depict the role of a woman living in feudal patriarchal society. Zhang was one of the 1982 Beijing Film Academy graduates-the so-called Fifth Generation of filmmakers, who were the first generation of Chinese directors trained after the Cultural Revolution. He discusses the Academy's impact on him and his peers. He often mentions that many of his fellow graduates now work in television because the state did not deem their films successful. "If a film does not recoup its costs in China," he told the New York Times in 2000, "you're not going to make another one. And you're not going to make a film without attracting investors." Using his art as a means of exploring oppression and its devastation of human relationships, Zhang talks openly about the effects of mainland China's codes of censorship on his work. He often bemoans his lack of access to films, especially international films, during his youth. As he discusses his filmmaking style and compares it to the current state of Chinese filmmaking, he is revealed as open and modest, yet deeply passionate about his art. Readers meeting him through these interviews will see him to be complex, serious, and as quietly unassuming as his movies. Ranging from 1988 to 1999, this book includes interviews with the acclaimed Chinese director of such films as Red Sorghum (1987), Shanghai Triad (1995), and Not One Less (1999) and the trilogy Ju Dou (1990), Raise the Red Lantern (1992), and The Story of Qiu Ju (1992). Several of these interviews appear in English for the first time. Some come from Chinese-language periodicals, and a few have never been published until now. In these conversations with such notable critics as Michel Ciment, Robert Sklar, and Tam Kwok-Kan, Zhang Yimou discusses all his films and speaks candidly about his work both as a cinematographer and an actor. Certain topics-the symbolism in his use of color, the use of women protagonists in most of his films, his working relationships with the Taiwanese filmmakers Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Edward Yang-emerge many times in the interviews. He shows strong interests in literature and film adaptations of texts. Zhang speaks too of his work with the actress Gong Li and of her roles in six of his films, most of which depict the role of a woman living in feudal patriarchal society. Zhang was one of the 1982 Beijing Film Academy graduates-the so-called Fifth Generation of filmmakers, who were the first generation of Chinese directors trained after the Cultural Revolution. He discusses the Academy's impact on him and his peers. He often mentions that many of his fellow graduates now work in television because the state did not deem their films successful. "If a film does not recoup its costs in China," he told the New York Times in 2000, "you're not going to make another one. And you're not going to make a film without attracting investors." Using his art as a means of exploring oppression and its devastation of human relationships, Zhang talks openly about the effects of mainland China's codes of censorship on his work. He often bemoans his lack of access to films, especially international films, during his youth. As he discusses his filmmaking style and compares it to the current state of Chinese filmmaking, he is revealed as open and modest, yet deeply passionate about his art. Readers meeting him through these interviews will see him to be complex, serious, and as quietly unassuming as his movies. YIMOU Contents Introduction Endnotes Chronology Filmography Discussing Red Sorghum Winning Credit for My Grandpa A Donkey, a PropeRer, and Young Sorghum Asking the Questions: Interview with Zhang Yimou Zhang Yimou's Black Comedy: The Story of Qiu Ju Becoming a Part of Life: An Interview with Zhang Yimou Of Gender, State, Censorship, and Overseas Capital: An Interview with Chinese Director Zhang Yimou Interview Ten Years of Suppressed Energy: The Creative Path of Zhang Yimou Interview with Zhang Yimou Zhang Still at the Heart of Chinese Filmmaking The Extravagance and Simplicity of Zhang Yimou's Eye Zhang Yimou: Only Possible Work Environment Is China Paving Chinese Film's Road to the World Collaborating with Writers How to Be a Film Director Regarding Collaborative Films A Quiet and Solitary Personality "I Haven't Pandered to Foreigners" "I Want To Bring Chinese Film to the World" "I Know Myself Rather Well" "I'm No Stranger to the City" "The Key is to Film People" "Express Your Own Uniqueness in Urban Films" "I'm Just an Ordinary Person" "Film Shouldn't Be Infatuated with Itself" The Personal Is Political for a Chinese Director Cinema and Zhang Yimou Discussing Keep Cool: The Camera Lens Presents the Irrationality of Chinese Society Not One Less 1. On the style of his new movie 2. About popular culture and the West Zhang Yimou, Do You Have Any More Films Zhang Yimou: No Going Back True and False Documentaries Elementary School Ties No Going Back “Ignorant and 111 Informed“ Survival over Value From the Fifth to the Sixth Generation: An Interview with Zhang Yimou Index