Hong Kong cinema has evolved tremendously in the past few years, and it has been able to incorporate new themes that are different from traditional martial arts. In the current film, new themes, such as love, fantasy, journey, and the search for self-discovery, have been incorporated into Chinese cinema. Hong Kong films were popular in Asia until the 1970s, when many Westerners began to discover Chinese cinema through Kung Fu films. A new generation of directors came into play, and these were trained in the West and less tied to the mainland traditions than the older generation of film directors. They turned away from martial arts and turned towards other themes such as dramas of contemporary life, gang life, and fantasy.
One such film is Rouge which Stan Quan directs. The film is based on 1930s Hong Kong and the character Fleur, a courtesan at one of the significant teahouses in the region, and her relationship with the wealthy Twelfth master Chen-Pang (Lau and Lau 136). The film contrasts nostalgia and melancholy between two beautifully balanced timelines. It compares the modern and the past, where much has been lost in social and technological progress. Kwan’s style explores the paradox of conflicting identity politics where “being Chinese” is constructed as exclusionary and composite locally and universally. It is a caricature of the “China as One| idealism. Kwan has been able to dramatize and satirize how the desire for centralized power unites sexism and nationalism while suppressing difference. Kwan dedicated his career and style to exploring the changing roles of women, the various definitions of sexuality, and the postcolonial political identity of Hong Kong. Kwan has realized that the audience in his films is interested in feminine and romantic aspects. Kwan is fascinated by the intricacies of melodrama between lovers (Lei 12). In this film, romance is portrayed to be both alluring and tragic. The film can explore this theme across two time periods and weave them together to contextualize the relationships between them. The film has an eerie and haunting feel from the opening shots as one sees Anita state into the camera, drawing on her eyebrows and pursing her lips on the paper rouge, and at this moment, the audience becomes her mirror. We can see Fleur confront an image of herself as a woman frozen in time and no longer portrayed as human.
The director has routed the film on hauntology, which is the presence of a ghost or spirit as a personification of the sociocultural past. She is haunted by her memories and desires to return to the past. Fleur roams around the nightscape of 80s Hong Kong as she searches for the remnants of her past life and her lover (Lau and Lau 139). Through the film, one realizes that the future is always experienced as a haunting and virtuality that impinges on the present. Fleur is shown as an interruption from the past into the future, which is the present. It is used to reveal the ghostly manifestation of Chinese traditions and Hong Kong’s cultural Sinocentric past. The film also gives a better understanding of Kwan’s focus on intimacy and human connection. Kwan is fascinated by the intricacies of melodrama between lovers. Rouge portrays romance as alluring and tragic, and the couples in the film find themselves enthralled with sole dedication (Lei 14). It is also evident that Kwan looks to capture China’s past and present identity and how this has affected the nation’s identity. Kwan enjoys capturing elements of nostalgia and using this in his films to portray the issues affecting society through understanding China through the lens of the past. Kwan has been able to integrate popular genres such as nostalgia and romance to enhance the storyline. Through this film, one can realize the connection between the East and the West, especially in Hong Kong, the epicenter of culture.
Fruit Chan is another Chinese director who plays an essential role in portraying the changing film culture in China. He is best known for his film style, which reflects the everyday life of the people of Hong Kong. The film Durian Durian is about the life of a Chinese call girl who lives in Hong Kong, and it focuses on her experiences living in the back lanes where a call girl works (Gan 25).In the film Durian Durian, one can see the independent approach to making a film, and he has made the bold decision to move Hong Kong cinema to a new ground, allowing him to portray the life of marginalized communities in a style that shows contemporary realism using a naturalistic yet deliberate filming technique. He uses postsocialist realism cinema, which shows actual aspects of realism and gives a new viewpoint of life in China during the period (Chau 52). The film has been able to mirror the identity and culture of the nation and how changing times have impacted the nation. It gives a clear example of how Hong Kong film deviated from China’s traditional model of film and cinematography. It is critical to understand the film’s timeline better to understand the intentions of Chain in the film.
The film is set in the context between 1998 and 2000, when there was comprehensive news coverage on the issue of mainland women arriving in Hong Kong on a legitimate two-way tourist visa and participating in illegal acts of prostitution. During the filming of this particular production, Chan resorted to using hidden cameras on various occasions because it was dangerous to film natural scenes with massive occurrences of insecurity. Chan managed to keenly observe the daily routines of these prostitutes in order to understand their lifestyle better (Gan 32). Chan has also been able to use a contemporary realist style, which appears to fuse Neorealism cinema with China’s Sixth Generation cinema into one. It is also evident that he has combined the naturalistic and deliberate technique of filming to interpret the entrenched separateness of the new entity of China. Chan has been able to portray the problematic lives of marginalized people. He uses non-professional actors in the first half of the film, which is done through handheld camera movements. He uses a non-professional cast, which has its roots in Italian Neorealism (Chau 52). The film has also been able to focus on the lives of the poor working class, and it incorporates on-location filming on the streets, and this is because the film studios were damaged during the war. Chan has also been able to avoid centering on the extremes of moral sentimentalism or revolutionary ferocity in his films.
In the film, Chan can implement unpretentious acting by the cast of ordinary people, which is augmented by spontaneous real-life dialogues that feel unscripted. Chan has also used handheld shots to ensure uninterrupted movement and speed to enhance reality (Gan 44). An excellent example is when Yan is walking hurriedly through the streets of Mongok as she rushes from one client to another. The use of long and deep focused shots has helped incorporate practical observation for scenes involving Fan’s family. It offers a non-intrusive perspective of the lives of the ordinary man. Chan places massive emphasis on contrasting Hong Kong and mainland China, and he also edges towards the minimalistic approach of the sixth generation of filmmakers in China, which has transformed itself into an influential movement of young urban cinema (Chau 52). Chan emphasizes the destruction and reconstruction of China’s social fabric and urban identities after the 80s. Durian Durian has seen Chan examine the imagined convergence of Hong Kong and China as one country with two systems. It breaks down the parallels and opposites, the points of disjuncture, and the paradox of national identity and an imagined community with leaky borders. Post-socialist realism has played an essential role in giving the film a proper identity.
Stephen Chow’s film The Mermaid focuses on Liu Xuan, who owns the Green Gulf, a coastal wildlife reserve. He integrates sonar technology to eliminate the seal life in the area. Shan is a mermaid, and her people have hired her to seduce and kill Xuan. Chow has used the classic fairytale The Little Mermaid as an inspiration for the film but creates a modern interpretation of the movie (Chew 788).To better understand the significance of the film setting, it is critical to examine the sociopolitical background of Hong Kong and its relationship with China. The film has delivered a unique flavor of Hong Kong using modernized aspects. The narrative presents the mermaid as one representing capitalism and environmental concerns instead of mythological text (Tseng 12). Here, Chow has managed to reconcile his buoyant sense of fun with more profound and darker themes, and he has been able to shift between different tones, such as romance and an eco-friendly message. It is evident that Stephen Chow effectively uses stereotyping and irony to help accumulate the wanted effect in the film. He has been able to implement a mixture of visual registers, and he has also incorporated intersexuality and globalization by integrating the local and the global.
Symbolism is rampant in his films, and he uses this to represent different ideas that responders from all over the world would be able to understand. Combining comic relief in the film is another strategy that has enhanced success and helps to create a better picture of the central theme at hand from a lighter note (Tseng 14). Chow’s contemporary no-nonsense comedy can use absurd plots, peculiar behavior, and clever dialogue to deconstruct social and moral norms and traditions. It does this in a way that exposes the paradox of the doomed fate of the social underdog and the patronizing society (Chew 790). The dejection and anger of the humbled characters in the film can be seen through self-mocking and satire. Through the film, one can see his efforts to close relationships with contemporary China’s social reality and attain an influential presence in the media (Ross 86). The audience can interpret the movie from personal post-socialist experiences. This film shows that Chow mirrors the deteriorating living standards and unsatisfactory living situation of most of China’s ordinary population, who are poorly underserved by the lopsided economic transformation.
The film has created a group of classical characters representing various stereotypical figures of present-day China. This particular film echoes an unequaled performance from Chow, and humor can be seen to stem from his nonsensible antics and his laughter-elicited dialogue. One also realizes that the film follows a specific structure and regularity, and the actors’ mind-blowing performance helps to accentuate this (Chew 792). Satire and irony are integrated into the film, and they blend and assimilate with each other to form realistic outcomes. The exaggerated characters, overblown situations in the film, and the use of irony have provided the weapon to challenge the so-called authority and absolute power, giving the masses power (Tseng 18). Throughout the film, one can notice that the inferior has been given a voice to channel their inner needs and to flout and challenge the elite and superior through their behavior and dialogue. The film can also be seen as the epitome of post-modernism and explains how this has been blended into the societal structure. In this film, one can realize that Chow can integrate specific attributes like humor to explain issues of importance affecting society.
Different styles have been implemented by directors Stanley Kwan, Fruit Chan, and Stephen Chow, and they possess somewhat different characteristics when directing films. Kwan is known for his female-centered narratives, which portray classic female characters and their role in the changing society. Fruit Chan embraced a more balanced approach, which included reflecting the everyday life of the Chinese and the traditional Chinese societal structure against more emergent themes such as the changing Chinese society. Stephen Chow embraces a more unorthodox style and focuses more on the complexities of life and the challenges of Chinese society using humor and satire. These three renowned directors have captured audiences’ admiration worldwide with their authenticity and imagination.
Works Cited
Chau, Angie. “Mapping China in World Cinema.” Chinese Literature and Thought Today 54.3-4 (2023): 52-55.https://doi.org/10.1080/27683524.2023.2264151
Chew, Matthew Ming-tak. “Rethinking the Cultural Relations between Hong Kong and China: An Analysis of the Chinese Reception of Stephen Chow’s Films.” Modern China 48.4 (2022): 785-813.https://doi.org/10.1177/00977004221079194
Gan, Wendy. Fruit Chan’s Durian Durian: A Unique Feature of the Hong Kong Legislative Council (with CD). Vol. 1. Hong Kong University Press, 2005.
Lau, Dorothy Wai Sim, and Dorothy Wai Sim Lau. “The Female Voice in Two of Stanley Kwan’s Sinophone Films: Maggie Cheung, Sammi Cheng, and the (Un) translatability of Personae.” Reorienting Chinese Stars in Global Polyphonic Networks: Voice, Ethnicity, Power (2021): 133-151.https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-16-0313-6_7
Lei, Chin-Pang. “Stories about Somewhere Else: Mobility and ‘Spatial Others’ in Hong Kong Cinema.” Asian Studies Review (2023): 1-18.https://doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2023.2244156
Ross, Miriam. “Chapter Five The National Cinema.” Cinemas, Identities and Beyond (2020): 84.
Tseng, Christian Ke Ting. “From local cinema to national: Stephen Chow’s’ competent loser’and the question of Hong Kong identity.” (2020).https://dr.ntu.edu.sg/handle/10356/148475
Wang, Ban. “The Banality of Trauma: Globalisation, Migrant Labor, and Nostalgia in Fruit Chan’s Durian Durian.” Daniela Agostinho, Elisa Antz, and Cátia Ferreira (eds.), Panic and Mourning. The Cultural Work of Trauma (2002): 145-160.https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110283143.145
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