A POWERFUL Chinese film explores serious issues and wins honors overseas, but at home most movie-goers turn away. Fei Lai explores the problems faced by good cinema in the day of blockbusters.
No big stars. No big investment. No spectacle and special effects. Ergo, no box office. That's the problem faced by many serious, low-budget films these days: They're not blockbusters and they face an uphill battle to win the hearts of fans, especially if they also tax their minds. They need compelling scripts and solid storytelling, but that's just part of it.
A recent case is "In Love We Trust," the Berlin Silver Bear winner for best screenplay. The film honored at the prestigious festival made only 50,000 yuan (US,140) at the box office since its China debut on April 1. The total for the three-day Qingming Festival was around five million yuan, a record for the period.
The film directed by Wang Xiaoshuai tells the gripping story of a divorced middle-aged couple - each remarried - whose only-child daughter suffers from life-threatening leukemia. She needs a bone marrow transplant from a sibling for a blood type match.
They decide to have another child, as a marrow donor. The parents and their current spouses grapple with the meanings of love, loyalty, responsibility and morality.
Great stuff. Some Chinese viewers and critics say, however, that while the story is compelling, the movie itself is slow, the characters flat and the film doesn't live up to the promise of its ideas. It's also far from the standard and often shallow fare served up in cinemas these days.
Comedies do well, so do blockbusters. There's a great need for diversity, good films in between, both comedies and drama, but it's hard for them to succeed at box office.
"'In Love We Trust' depicts the pressure and responsibility of being parents and how people should react to calamities in life," says director Wang, who is best known outside China for his artistic films. "But today's audience prefers watching blockbusters."
Wang took the Silver Bear Award at the 2001 Berlin Film Festival for "Beijing Bicycle" (not screened in China because of its violence) and won the Special Jury Prize for "Shanghai Dreams" at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.
Artistic films
Of the cold reception for "In Love We Trust," Wang says he would never quit independent film making.
"It will take a bit more time for the audience to accept low-budget, artistic and thought-provoking films. Unlike Chinese people, Europeans have been accustomed to watch such films for more than a century. Many prefer independent films to Hollywood blockbusters," he says.
His latest film faces the same problems encountered by artistic films, such as "Peacock" and "Still Life."
"Most people dash to the cinema only for big-budget productions. Blockbusters are always imaginary and unreal, but people just love them," says Qin Zhenlei, a film fan from Songjiang District. "We domestic viewers don't deny the excellence of more artistic, low-budget films at overseas film festivals. But their film language is too hard to understand. It is totally beyond my comprehension."
Being a loyal film enthusiast, Qin spent his holiday watching "Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon," a pan-Asian co-production with a reported budget of US million, and the hit "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," the sequel to "National Treasure" starring Nicholas Cage.
He says the trailers had whetted his appetite.
"I was determined to see both," Qin says. "In spite of the honors for 'In Love We Trust' and the real-life issues, I couldn't work up any interest as its meaning is so obscure."
Qin adds he couldn't even find where the film was being screened.
Director Wang says fifth-generation directors, such as Zhang Yimou ("Raise the Red Lantern," "Hero") and Chen Kaige ("Farewell My Concubine," "Promise"), have already been challenging film-viewing habits by introducing more thoughtful films. "It is now our turn to make literary films more accessible to the public and help build awareness of social issues."
Ren Zhonglun, president of Shanghai Film Group Corp, says there's a big potential market for domestic films that are more serious and thoughtful. "Although currently these films are not well-received in the mainstream film market, they should never be sacrificed for commercial movies," he says.
"As representatives of Chinese film art, independent films win honor for our film industry on the world stage. Drawing on the experience in Europe, creating art-house cinemas could be the best way to nurture domestic artistic films. "We must cultivate the audience and elevate their taste," he concludes.
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