Travel Reference
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Cala, My Dog!
(2003) Lu Xuechang's sly and subtle comedy about a Běijīng factory worker and avid gambler
trying to raise the money to pay for a licence for the beloved family dog, while coping with a jealous wife and
wayward teenage son.
Like all the arts, China's film business went into a steep decline after 1949; the dark
days of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) were particularly devoid of creative output.
While Taiwan's and Hong Kong's movie industries flourished, China's cinema business
was coerced into satisfying political agendas, with output focused on propaganda and
glorification of the Communist Party. The film industry in China has yet to recover: taboo
subjects still have directors walking on egg shells and criticism of the authorities remains
hazardous. Contemporary Chinese TV shows are mostly wooden and artificial, and are of-
ten costume dramas set in far-off, and politically safe, dynasties.
While no Chinese directors have made the successful crossover to making western movies,
Chinese actresses are increasingly in demand in Hollywood. Joan Chen was the first to
make the transition after her starring role in
The Last Emperor
(1987); she has since been fol-
lowed by Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi.
Post-1949
Western audiences awoke to a new golden age of Chinese cinema in the 1980s and 1990s
when the lush palettes and lavish tragedies of the Fifth Generation directors stimulated the
right aesthetic nerves. The cinematic output of directors such as Chen Kaige and Zhang
Yimou perfectly dovetailed with China's nascent opening up and escape from Mao-era
constraints. Garlanded with praise, received with standing ovations and rewarded with
several major film awards, rich works such as
Raise the Red Lantern
(Zhang Yimou;
1991) and
Farewell My Concubine
(Chen Kaige; 1993) redefined Chinese cinema, radiat-
ing a beauty that entranced Western cinema-goers and made their directors the darlings of
Cannes and other film festivals. But with many of the early Fifth Generation films banned
in their home country, few Chinese cinema-goers got to admire their artistry.
Sixth Generation film directors collectively shunned the exquisite beauty of the Fifth
Generation, taking the opposite tack to render the angst and grimness of modern urban
Chinese life. Their independent, low-budget works, often made without official permis-
sion, put an entirely different spin on mainland Chinese film-making. Zhang Yuan set the
tone with
Mama
(1990)
,
a beautiful but disturbing film about a mother and her autistic
child. This low-key film, created without government sponsorship, had a huge influence
on Zhang's peers.
