Chinese cinema

Today, no one knows exactly where Chinese cinema starts and ends. The cinema that we call Chinese consists of at least three industries - mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. These industries actively cooperate, but exist in different political and economic conditions, and even their Oscar candidates are nominated separately. Blue-language films are also produced in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. But the orientation to the language does not bring clarity due to the fact that there is no single Chinese language; in different regions, films may be produced in Mandarin, Cantonese and other dialects. In addition, multiple languages may be heard in Chinese films. Finally, there are films that are made simply in English. 

Even 20 years ago, it was provincial cinematography, which is state-supported and can only count on festival prizes for art-house films. In 2002, Chinese box office grosses were only $130 million, and in terms of the number of cinemas per capita, China was the last in the world.

Achievements :

It was in 2002 that the Chinese government was concerned about reforms in the field of cinema, immediately transferring production, distribution and distribution to the market rules of the game. Faced with the need to work according to the laws of the market, Chinese filmmakers did not throw tantrums and demand the return of the state order, but began to learn how to shoot genre, spectator films, and from everyone at once - from Hollywood to Hong Kong. And the Chinese society, which is experiencing rapid development and social stratification, gave them many interesting stories.

Over the course of 15 years, cinema revenues in China have grown by a third annually, and every day a new multiplex with about 10-15 screens opens in the country. Many private film studios have appeared, which today produce the main rolling hits. In 2012, China ranked second in the world after the United States in terms of film distribution. In the first quarter of 2018, for the first time in history, China's film distribution outpaced North American (the United States and Canada combined). At the end of 2018, Chinese film distribution earned $ 8.9 billion, and in the twenty highest-grossing Chinese films of the year, almost half of the box office (41%)  fell on the pictures of budding directors . This suggests that the Chinese have the right film education: young directors gravitate toward genre films and successfully make them. Of the three highest-grossing films of the year, one was made by a debutant.

In a matter of years, Chinese cinematography has turned into a powerful commercial industry, producing films of all conceivable genres, from horror to musical, supported by private investment and attracting millions of viewers, and not only Chinese.

The success of the Chinese film industry is a reflection of the country's overall economic development, its rapid urbanization and the growth of a middle class that already outnumbers the entire US population. But even more, it is the result of the learning and flexibility of Chinese filmmakers.

Minuses:

The main problem of Chinese cinema is censorship, notorious for its unpredictability. Contrary to popular belief, most of the censorship bans are not related to ideology, but to the fact that China does not have an age restriction system and children can watch any films. 

Another blow to the film industry was the tightening of tax policy. For years, Chinese cinema has practiced tax evasion through a system of double yin-yang contracts: one contract indicates a small amount of the fee, and it goes to the tax, and the second, unofficial, the real amount. The difference between these contracts could be several million dollars.

Co-productions in China are divided into three types. The first is films that are simply financed by Chinese companies. The second type is films shot with the participation of Chinese studios and in China, but with foreign film crews and funding sources. The third is films where at least a third of the crew and cast are Chinese, and the plot is somehow connected with Chinese history or culture. All co-productions make it easier for a film to enter Chinese cinemas, but only films of the third type are considered by the PRC authorities as national cinema. The leader in terms of co-productions of this kind is Hong Kong, and among Western countries - the USA and Australia.

Cinema of Taiwan

Cinema of the Republic of China, (Taiwan Cinema) is part of the Chinese-language cinema, which also includes the cinema of the People's Republic of China and the cinema of Hong Kong. The history of Taiwanese cinema goes back over a hundred years.

Japanese period

Cinema was brought to Taiwan by the Japanese during the occupation of the island. The first proper Chinese film was filmed in Taiwan in 1901. Feature films appeared in the 1920s. During this period, the production base was laid.

Shanghai period

Development continued in 1945-49, when Taiwan was returned to the Republic of China, and Shanghai became the capital of cinema. Despite some cooling towards Chinese films, the Chinese film "Spring Waters Flow East" was very popular. In general, with some growth in production, the cinema has largely remained a form of distribution of foreign cinema.

dialectal cinema

The period from 1949 to 1963 was a difficult time for filmmaking. The film reflected the theme of cohabitation between Taiwanese and mainland Chinese. Comparison of dialects of the Chinese language has become the theme of many paintings, the first of which was the painting "Descendants of the Yellow Emperor". These films have been popular for a long time.

Demonopolization (1963-1982)

By becoming economically powerful, Taiwan has acquired incentives for the development of cinematography. More than 5,000 films have been made since the 1960s. [2]  During these years, there were four film directors who made the glory of Taiwanese cinema, among which the first is Li Xing. Lee Sin's outstanding films were "The Depth of Feelings of a Silent Girl" (啞女情深, The Silent wife, 1965), "Autumn Execution" and "History of the Town". His cinema achieved popularity thanks to common Chinese values. The second major director was Bai Jingrui, who made films under the influence of Italian neorealism. His film "Solitude at Seventeen" is interesting, telling about the conversion to Christianity. One of the most famous directors is Li Hanxiang, who created the historical epic " Xishi " about an imperial concubine. Another director, Hu Jinquan, pioneered kung fu films, and also directed the highly acclaimed film Knight. Almost fifty paintings from 1965 to 1985 were based on the works of the writer Qiong Yao. In most films based on the works of Qiong Yao, the "Queen of Asia" Lin Qingxia played.

New cinema

The 80s and 90s were the time of the emergence of the "new cinema". After the film market collapsed by the early 1980s, the government's Central Film Company (Zhunying) began sponsoring experimental films by a new generation of directors. Masters such as Hou Xiaoxian, Yang Dechang, and others came among them. Yang Dechang's Tale of Light and Darkness (1982) (光陰 的故事, In our time) was the first film of the new cinema.

A significant achievement was The Sandwich Man (1983) (兒子的大玩偶, The Sandwich Man). Many films were shot as anthologies in collaboration with different directors and tell about their own lives. The films Taipei Story (1985), Fearsome (1986) by Edward Young left a big mark; "A Time to Live and a Time to Die", "Summer at Grandfather's" (1984), "The Dust of a Vain Life" (1986) by Hou Xiaoxian. During this period, up to 300 feature films were made a year, today there are less than 10. [5]

This movie is distinguished by dedramatization, associative language, psychology, concentration on the individual and direct dialogue with the viewer. Director Hou Xiaoxian created the famous film "City of Sorrow" about the tragedy of 1945, when the Japanese left Taiwan, but the administration from mainland China came in their place, and two "patriotisms" collided. The famous director Ang Lee was awarded an Oscar for the film Sense and Sensibility, a Golden Lion for Lust and other international awards. He works in Hollywood.

The highest-grossing film in Taiwan's history was the 2008 romantic drama Cape No. 7 (dir. Wei Desheng). The 2010 gangster film Monga, directed by Niu Chengze, won multiple awards.

Movie genres

wuxia

The oldest genre of Chinese cinema, as well as one of the most popular. His fame extends far beyond Asia, and Hollywood fantasy films often borrow his artistic techniques.

Literally, the word "wuxia" means "noble warrior." Pictures in this genre are often referred to as "martial arts cinema". In fact, these are rather analogs of European films of a cloak and a sword with a characteristic idea of history as a nail on which you can hang an adventurous plot with intrigues, chases, miraculous rescues at the last moment and, of course, sword fights.

Realism in staging combat scenes is not considered a merit in wuxia. On the contrary, the staging of fights as amazing ballets, created especially for the camera, is highly valued. In Hong Kong back in the 60s, a unique profession of an action choreographer arose - a cinematographer who embodies action scenes on the screen, like show-stoppers from a Hollywood musical. Leading action choreographers master the art of filming and editing to perfection and create their own films along with staging fights in the films of other directors.

Most modern Chinese wuxia are co-productions with Hong Kong. Thanks to the success of the first co-productions of this kind - "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (Ang Lee, 1999),  "Hero"  (Zhang Yimou, 2002) and_cc7 5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ "House of Flying Daggers"   (Zhang Yimou, 2004) - Martial arts movies have become a fashion all over the world. Among the most famous wuxia of recent times are the Brotherhood of Blades dilogy ( Liu Yang , 2014 and 2017), as well as the wuxia western  Benny Chan   "The Call of Heroes" _cc785 -5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_(2016). In 2018, the living classic Zhang Yimou returned to this genre with the film "Shadow" with a unique pictorial solution in the style of monochrome ink painting.

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fantasy

Sometimes mystical characters - werewolf foxes, sorcerers, demons, the living dead - make their way into the wuxia action, and then the film, already far from realism, turns into a fantasy and is called xianxia. The fashion for such pictures in mainland China began in 2009, when Gordon Chan, an experienced action master from Hong Kong, combined spectacular action scenes in the film Painted Skin with a fantasy plot based on Pu Songling's story about a werefox who dreams of becoming a man. .

Gordon Chan continued his experiments with Fresco (2011), billed as a sequel to Painted Skin, but later turned into a standalone film. Also inspired by the stories of Pu Songling, this film tells the story of a naive schoolboy who passes through an ancient fresco on the wall of a monastery and finds himself in a world inhabited exclusively by women of unearthly beauty.

Among the most successful fantasy films is Painted Skin 2 (2012), which was one of the top three highest-grossing films of the year. Directed by mainland director Wershan, this film features a combination of humor, horror and melodrama. Hong Kong directors Soi Chen and Tsui Hark launched two popular franchises on the mainland, Monkey King and Detective Di, respectively.

The Chinese-Japanese co-production Legend of the Demon Cat (Chen Kaige, 2017) has become the most artistically successful fantasy of recent years. For the film, the ancient Chinese capital of Chang'an was built in five years and $200 million. After filming in this grandiose scenery, a tourist attraction opened.

Thriller and horror

Genres that are very popular with the public, but their development is hindered by censorship that does not allow explicit scenes of violence and requires that supernatural events be given a rational explanation. However, for every censorship requirement, Chinese filmmakers invent ten ways to circumvent it, resulting in mainland China producing over a hundred horror and thriller films each year. Half of them are released in cinemas, the rest are distributed via the Internet.

At first, Chinese horror makers built their films according to a plot formula reminiscent of Scooby-Doo cartoons: in the first part of the picture, a monster appears and scares everyone, and at the end a rational explanation of what is happening is given. But time after time these "scientific" explanations became more far-fetched. Soon, Chinese filmmakers discovered that the censors were magically affected by the appearance on the screen of a psychoanalyst who, with an important air, says: “In fact, ghosts do not exist, but what you saw is a projection of your unconscious!” This phrase gave filmmakers an indulgence to show the most incredible fantasies. Thus was born the Chinese psychoanalytic thriller. It was pioneered by director Zhang Bingjian, who in his debut film Suffocation (2005) blurred the line between reality and the hallucinations of a hero who believes he killed his wife and brought into play an old psychoanalyst lady trying to figure out what really happened. deed.

Meanwhile, the popularity of psychoanalysis in Chinese society was growing. The Chinese middle class, in the midst of rapid social change and fierce competition, became more and more prone to stress, neurosis, and depression. Since it is the middle class that is the main consumer of cinema, it soon became clear that psychoanalytic motives alone can ensure the success of the film without any monsters.

As a result, there was a flourishing of psychoanalysis in cinema in China, comparable only to a similar boom in American cinema in the 1940s. Characters suffering from split personality, amnesia and various neuroses populate Chinese thrillers and horror films such as Nightmare (Herman Yau, 2012), Phantom Love (Ting Liang, 2012), Dolly (Qiu Chuji, 2013) , "Deadly Strands" (Zhou Xiaoyi and Zhou Xiaoxi, 2013), "The Great Hypnotist" (Laste Chen, 2014).

But the recent easing of censorship for supernatural beings and events could tip the balance in favor of the gothic ghost stories that began in mainland China with Marriage (Teng Huatao, 2007) and The House That Never Dies (Raymond Yip, 2014).

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gangster and cop movies

These genres also suffered greatly from censorship, which for a long time did not allow stories about the mafia, as well as about corrupt officials and policemen. Making films about corruption and organized crime in mainland China could only be done by moving the action back in time to the era of the bourgeois republic of 1912-1949. The situation was changed by the campaign launched by Xi Jinping to fight corruption, thanks to which its existence in the PRC was recognized at the official level.

Feng Xiaogang and his "World Without Thieves" (2004) can be considered a pioneer in the genre of a gangster film based on modern material. But it was only in the 2010s that gangster and police films were put on stream. Cleverly combines the sophistication of form with the captivating storytelling of Cheng E in the film "Death Hostage" (2012). No Man's Land (Ning Hao, 2013), filmed back in 2010 and battling censorship for three years, is gaining international success.

Contemporary Chinese crime dramas such as Mister Six (Guan Hu, 2015), Explosion (Zhang Zheng, 2017), Wrath of Silence (Xin Yukun, 2017) are examples of adult genre films. In these movies, gangsters rule coal mines and cities, cops are dumb and incompetent, and money solves all problems for the tough guys. But the tough guys have to trip over one person, and not bitten by a mutant spider - an ordinary small person from among those whom they used to step over without noticing.

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Melodrama, romantic comedy

The most popular genres in mainland China. The rise of romantic comedies began when Sophie's Revenge (2009), directed by former opera singer-turned-director Eva Jin, became a box office hit and peaked when the fantasy comedy The Mermaid (Stephen Chow, 2016) broke the box office record. , raising $550 million. Subsequently, the popularity of these genres declined, but they continue to be actively produced in China.

"Sophie's Revenge"

Melodramas and romantic comedies tend to be the starting point for Chinese female directors. In addition to Eva Jin, famous actresses Xu Jinglei and Rene Liu, TV journalist Xu Xiaoluy, and Zhang Mo, Zhang Yimou's daughter and assistant, made their directorial debuts with such films. Among the most popular paintings of this kind are “In Search of Mr. Perfect” (2013), “Suddenly Seventeen” (2017), “Us and Them” (2018). Interestingly, Chinese female directors who are famous for their romantic comedies often quickly move away from this genre, turning to the “male” genres of thriller and action and seeking to break the common stereotype of “female” cinema.

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Science fiction

The only genre that until recently did not develop in China. Partly because, by modern standards, it requires hefty budgets and complex special effects, partly due to the fact that Chinese directors are more accustomed to making fantasy about demons and werefoxes.

But in 2019, a whole bunch of sci-fi films about fearless space explorers, battles with aliens and other intergalactic heroics came out in China. And the first of them was The Wandering Earth (Frant Gwo), a film adaptation of the story of the most popular writer Liu Qixin, winner of the Hugo Award. The sun in the future turns into a red giant and is about to destroy the Earth; the world government decides to attach something like huge propellers to it and, turning it into a giant starship, move the whole planet to another solar system.

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Symbiosis with Hollywood

Chinese cinema today is at the same crossroads as society as a whole. On the one hand, rapid economic development has made it a global force that even Hollywood has to reckon with. On the other hand, he turned out to be a hostage of an inert political system. The communist idea in China has died, but the authoritarian regime has remained and is trying to control the increasingly complex Chinese society. 

Despite this, the world's largest film companies continue to rely on cooperation with China.

Aini Koukas, in her recently published book Hollywood Made in China, argues that Chinese and American cinema is in for something of a symbiosis: and competitive... If the Chinese film market continues to grow, we will increasingly see Hollywood films not just made in China, but made for China. And if Chinese investments also increase, then so will those made by China. These relationships are already leaving their mark on the global cultural process. Today, the US and China are not just creating joint media content - they are building each other's cultural brands."

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