rainclouds over wushan
postman
xiao wu
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RAINCLOUDS OVER WUSHAN / WUSHAN YUNYU
Zhang Ming, China, 1996; 96m
In a small waterfront town, Mai Qiang, a shy signal operator on the
river, leads a monotonous life, his swinging friend convinced he just
needs female companionship. Meanwhile, Chen Qing, a single mother who
works as a receptionist in a seedy hotel, is soon to marry. Chen’s boss,
now deprived of her sexual favors, tells the police that Mai has raped
Chen. With Rainclouds Over Wushan, a film of quiet yet intense power,
the director, Zhang Ming, creates a series of intimate portraits of
ordinary people for whom something extraordinary, like love, is only
wishful thinking.
Fri Feb 23: 3:30 & 7:30
Sun Feb 25: 4:15 & 8:30
Mon Feb 26: 2 & 6:15
POSTMAN / YOU CHAI
He Jianjun, China, 1995; 101m
He Jianjun’s second feature is a courageous film from the new generation
of Chinese filmmakers. In Beijing’s Xingfu, or "District of Happiness,"
a postman is fired for reading the mail, and Xiao Du, an orphan, is
promoted in his place. Raised by his sister, to whom he is deeply
attached, Xiao Du remains a shy outsider and voyeur. He also begins to
read the mail, not only learning about the secrets of people in his
district but also interfering in their lives. POSTMAN reveals another
Beijing, not seen before in the West. The director was recently forbidden
to work in China and the film was smuggled to Europe. It was completed
with a special grant from the Rotterdam Film Festival, where it won top honors.
Fri Feb 23: 5:30 & 9:30
Sat Feb 24: 6:30
Tue Feb 27: 2 & 6:15
XIAO WU
Jia Zhang Ke, China, 1997; 107m
In a provincial Chinese backwater a petty thief leads a tentative
existence. He resists any emotional display, but this is natural in a
social environment that has neither understanding nor compassion for
individuality. Gradually, though, through various everyday encounters,
Xiao Wu, the title character, has his soul revealed, and the film ends
with an emotional power rarely achieved by more experienced filmmakers.
The triumph is that the director, Jia Zhang Ke, cast his gritty feature
with non-professional actors who add greatly to the convincing realism
of the film, an extraordinary portrait of contemporary Chinese life.
Sat Feb 24: 4:15 & 8:40
Sun Feb 25: 6:15
Mon Feb 26: 4 & 8:15
Tue Feb 27: 4 & 8:15
LUNAR ECLIPSE / YUE SHI
Wang Quanan, China, 1999, 100m
This elegant film about love, desire, and betrayal is mixed with a touch
of mystery and told in a cinematic language rarely seen in Chinese
films. It marks the debut of Wang Quanan, a 1991 graduate of the Beijing
Film Academy. A young newlywed has a chance encounter with an enigmatic
minivan driver with a passion for photography. When the amateur
photographer confesses to a previous love affair with a woman who bears
an uncanny resemblance to her, the young woman falls under the spell of
this soft-spoken, unkempt, and seemingly hapless young man. Dai Jinghua,
one of China's leading film critics, has described LUNAR ECLIPSE as one
of the most uncompromising Chinese films ever made and a landmark in
Chinese cinema.
Wed Feb 28: 2 & 6:15
Thurs March 1: 1 & 9* (*Director present)
HOW STEEL IS FORGED / GANGTIE SHI ZENYANG LIAN CHENG DE
Lu Xuechang, China, 1998; 108m
Spanning two decades of Chinese history — from the repressed seventies
to the money-crazed present — HOW STEEL IS FORGED follows a young man’s
journey from boiler stoker to frustrated rocker in Beijing. In the end,
the misfit hero develops a sort of nostalgia for the revolution, fueled
by the memory of a social-realist book from his childhood entitled How
Steel Is Forged. Veteran Fifth Generation director Tian Zhuangzhuang,
who nourished the current generation of young filmmakers, plays the
father figure to the young man in the film. Heavily critiqued by the
Chinese censors for its treatment of such touchy subjects as alcohol and
drug addiction and casual sex, the film underwent six edits before
satisfying the authorities and went on to become a popular hit.
Wed Feb 28: 4 & 8:15
Fri March 2: 4 & 8:45* (*Director present)
CALL ME / HU WO
Ah Nian, China, 2000; 87m
An intricate tapestry of parallel narratives that unfolds over the
course of seven days, CALL ME, as the title suggests, concerns the quest
for human contact in the city. Newly uprooted from the provinces, the
two main characters struggle to get by in the teeming Chinese capital by
delivering flowers and selling blood. Their lives soon intersect with
others who seek emotional intimacy. The flower vendor tries in vain to
deliver a bouquet to a young woman on behalf of a client, while Shunzi,
the guileless migrant laborer reduced to selling blood, contracts AIDS
and desperately tries to locate those who have received his blood. Their
repeated pleas for response, relayed through a messaging center, give
the film its title and become a metaphor for the characters’ inability
to achieve direct connection.
Thurs March 1: 3:15;
Fri March 2: 2 & 6:15* (*Director present)
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