Movie directors who are Chinese.

by

SS Lau

On the international movie scene, there are a few movie directors who happen to be Chinese. Of course, everyone knows John Woo Who is famous for his action movies, such as "Broken Arrow". Wayne Wang is also famous for directing movies which essentially centered around Chinese themes. Now comes Ang Lee who came from Taiwan and studied film making at NYU. About 10 years ago, I think, as he was about to go home after schooling, he had an opportunity to direct small projects in the US, and he never left. Some of the famous movies that he directed includes " Eat, Drink, men, Women" which focused on Chinese issues. I saw " Eat" many times on TV, but I always fell asleep in the middle of it and could not finish. The theme of this movie could not quite hold my attention. It was not his directing ability that was inadequate, I am sure it was I who was not so much interested in family issues. Then I saw" Sense and Sensibility`'. I did not know Ang Lee directed this movie until much later. In fact I saw it several times before I realized that it was a Chinese who directed a movie based on a Jane Austin movie The movie is thoroughly English, apparently without a trace of "Chineseness" in it. While I may not have recognized thorough "Englishness", I believe I can detect even a tad of "Chineseness" in a movie. About a month ago I read an article on Ang Lee in the LA Times where Emma Thompson, star and the screen-play writer of the movie, said how very difficult it was for Lee to step in to direct this movie. First of all the actors were all English and knew each other well or have worked together, perhaps numerous times before. They may also had their own notions of what a Jane Austin ought to be. There he was, a Chinese director who did not have any deep-rooted background in English literature, and his job was to direct a bunch of English actors in an English movie about England. It is kind of like becoming the head of the Lighters without even going to Pui-Ching at all. Well, the movie was a great success for the director, the actors, and of course for Emma Thompson who received an Oscar for the screen play.

His most recent movie is " the Ice storm", which stars Sigourney Weaver. Wow!!, what an actress to direct. The movie was about the decadence of the American middle class families located in the Northeast in the Nixon era. This was the time when the Americans lost faith in anything and everything; and everyone was looking for the "Grand Escape". The kids played " I'll show you mine, if you show me yours". The grown-ups played a different version of the same game called the " Key party".

If you ever experienced a conversation with your kid such as " how is school ?', "fine", "How are your grades ? ", "fine", "how are you these days? ", "OK ", (Well, you get the drift the of the conversation), I think you'll be sympathetic to the hopelessness of the parents and kids in trying to communicate.

This movie is intense and serious in its theme. It may not be a box office hit and it has already received some so-so reviews. I, on the other hand , think the movie was well-made and deserved to be seen. The actors and the director have triumphed together to deliver a message, which may not be the message you want to receive.

Sigourney Weaver was just great in this movie. In " the year of living dangerously ", she was a young and lovely English girl, hopelessly in love with an Australian reporter stationed in Indonesia, leaking confidential information to her lover to save him. In " The Ice Storm ", she was a middle aged mother of two teen agers and a heartless bitch, seeking one escapade after another. The range of characters she can play over the years is just remarkable.

Two recent movies " Boogie nights " and " The Ice Storm" depict a piece of Americana in the 1970s, both movie are intense and serious. I enjoyed watching both, but I did not achieve state of "Grand Escape" by watching them.