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Sidney Bata, Director of Ateneo de Manila University
Ricardo Leong Center for Chinese Studies |
Seeing two films on the opening
day of the 11th Spring Film
Festival at the Shang Cineplex was my way of catching up after missing this
prelude to the Chinese New Year since 2014. In between the viewings, I soaked
in the opening night festivities to welcome not just the film festival but also the Year of the Rooster that included a traditional lion dance, an art
exhibit, a saxophone serenade, and even a fashion show where ladies walked the
ramp wearing traditional Chinese garments.
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| Saxophonist Joshe Tiu |
Red Amnesia/闯入者
A fully loaded day made me miss Red Amnesia/闯入者 during the press preview. But my interest with the
Cultural Revolution prompted me to catch it at the festival’s regular run.
Directed by Wang Xiaoshuai, the film is the final installment of his Cultural
Revolution trilogy along with Shanghai
Dreams and 11 Flowers.
At the forefront is the outstanding
performance by Lü Zhong as the stubborn elderly widow Deng Meijuan who is bent
on making herself useful in her old age by not only taking care of her grown up
sons Jun (Feng Yuanzheng) and Bing (Qin Hao), but also of her grandson, and
mother residing at a nursing home. Her daily routine goes like clockwork until
she starts getting mysterious, anonymous phone calls.
For me it wasn’t just the mystery
of these phone calls that slowly unfold throughout the course of the film that had
me hooked. What actually gripped me more was the glimpses of family life,
especially the tension among the generations, in contemporary, fast paced China.
Deng’s continued interference with her sons’ daily lives has caused tension
between her and Jun’s wife Lu (Qin Hailu). Although mostly left unsaid, it wasn’t
hard to read her disapproval of her younger son Bing’s lifestyle and choice of
partner. And to my surprise, Deng took it upon herself to take care of her own
mother, thus showing her both as a parent/grandparent and as a daughter. And
the scenes at the nursing home showed the pitiful state of the elderly who are
primarily neglected by their children who are enjoying the country’s economic
boom.
As for the mystery, it was plain
to see that the unnamed boy (Shi Liu) insistently crossing paths with Deng is
the one behind all this. While his motives took a while before they were
revealed, how he managed to pull everything off, upon knowing who he is and
where he came from, had me scratching my head.
Familiarity with China’s history,
especially the Cultural Revolution, paid off for me as the film had more impact
and weight than just another mystery drama. The scenes of Deng, stopping by to
listen at elderly people singing communist songs, gave more insight to her
character’s past. And not showing any flashbacks served the film better like
when Jun told Bing through a simple conversation the drastic measures their
mother took to ensure their future. And when she finally repaid her debt and
atoned for her sins of the past, none emerged from it unscathed but it was
satisfying.
Going through Red Amnesia got me on course to figure
out how on earth I would be able to see the other two films comprising of Wang
Xiaoshuai’s Cultural Revolution trilogy. I don’t know how I’d forgive myself
had these two films been shown in previous editions of the Spring Film Festival.
Everybody’s Fine/切都好
After enjoying the opening night
program and having my fill of generous servings of noodles, pork buns, and
dumplings, I was in high spirits getting into my second film of the day, Everybody’s Fine/切都好.
A Chinese remake of the 1990 Italian
film Stanno Tutti Bene, this movie directed
by Zhang Meng follows widower Guan Zhiguo (Zheng Guoli) as he travels
throughout China and beyond in search of his four children who bailed on their
annual family get together. Once he gets to see all but one of his children, he
realizes that his memory of them when they were kids, and what he has perceived
as their current overachieving lives are anything but fine.
As Guan encounters the
disappointment of the marital problems of his eldest daughter Qing (Yao Chen), the
financial risk taking of his son Quan (Shawn Dou), the non-existent ballet
career of youngest daughter Chu (Ye Chianyun), and the unknown whereabouts of
youngest son Hao (Chen He), one couldn’t help but pity and somehow root for
him. And not surprisingly, a medical emergency befalling Guan is what it takes
to force the family back together with everything all right and even the
mystery surrounding Hao finally resolved.
Coming right after seeing a
highly nuanced Red Amnesia, Everybody’s Fine was too forced and the
sappiness was too much too bear. I wasn’t able to hurdle the idea of a Chinese family
with four children in the first place. And the characters that Guan during his
travels, while offering cute moments, were totally inconsequential to the
story. I suspect that these were notable cameos by established actors but not
being that immersed with Chinese cinema, the charm was lost in me. Having not
seen the original Italian film nor the 2009 Hollywood remake starring Robert de
Niro, I cannot comment on how this version would fare compared to its
predecessors.
Everybody’s Fine attempt to wrap up everything nicely, with
everyone being um, fine and anything bad getting swept under the rug, ended up
too romanticized and very saccharine.
Red Amnesia and Everybody’s
Fine are just two of the six films screening for free at the 11th Spring Film Festival at the Shang Cineplex until January 29, 2017. Other events in line with
the festival include the Confucius Institute at the Ateneo de Manila
University Chinese Painting Exhibit on view until January 31, 2017, An
Afternoon of Beautiful Chinese Melodies: Chinese Music Concert by
the Ricardo Leong Center for Chinese Studies at the Ateneo de Manila
University on January 28, 2017, 3:00 PM,
and A Pastel Painting Workshop with
Master Fidel Sarmiento, President of the Art Association of the Philippines
on January 29, 2017, 1:00 PM.
