RAS FILM CLUB
Sunday 20th November, 2011 6.30pm for 7.00pm at
Embankment Building, Ground Floor 410C North Suzhou Road
河滨大楼，苏州北路410C底楼
RAS FILM CLUB – 3RD SUNDAY OF EVERY MONTH – NOVEMBER 20TH
Yanzhi kou, 1988
Rouge
Directed by Stanley Kwan (Guan Jinpeng)
Produced by Jackie Chan
Cantonese with English subtitles
Based on the novel by Li Bihua
Cast: Leslie Cheung, Anita Mui, Alex Man, Emily Chu
The film that made Stanley Kwan the leading figure in Hong Kong New Wave Cinema, Rouge is an imaginative and stylish film that shuttles between the flamboyant world of 1930’s Hong Kong and the equally atmospheric 1980’s. This film plays with two traditional themes from Chinese literature: the ghost story and the encounter between a literary scholar and a courtesan. The relationship at the heart of the film is between the wealthy Chen Zhenbang, also known as Twelfth Master, and a beautiful courtesan from the highly regarded Yi Hung House, Fleur. With the flavour of Romeo and Juliet the couple cannot marry because of family disapproval so they enter a suicide pact that fails, opening the way to the ghost story.
Filmed with astonishing visual energy Stanley Kwan creates an opulent atmosphere against which the rituals and practices of the day are convincing yet exotic. Fifty plus years later, the ghost appears at a newspaper office to place a notice and enters the life of journalist Yuan and his girlfriend A’Chu with unanticipated consequences. The interplay of fantasy and reality, past and present, give the film its unique texture but it’s the conviction that the present inhabits the past; the supernatural inhabits the natural that provides a special resonance. Unlike the book on which it is based, the focus of the film is not on the supernatural itself but on the complexity of contemporary Hong Kong’s cultural space peopled historically by a largely Shanghainese immigrant wave and slated to return to the Mainland. Fear of the future and the inability to accept change is the downfall of the leading characters, and as the ghost revisits the past Kwan deconstructs the nostalgia that inhabits their need to cling to their memories. The result is an essentially optimistic view of the forthcoming handover encouraging viewers to embrace the inevitability of the future, released at a time when fears in Hong Kong were running high but before the events of June 1989.
Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui, the stars of the film, both died within a few months of each other in 2003, making Rouge even more symbolic in the history of Hong Kong film. Both began their celebrity careers as singers. Cheung was best known for his appearances in Wong Kar-wai films, but was also cast by the mainland’s Chen Kaige, playing a female impersonating opera singer in Farewell My Concubine (bawang bieji, 1992) and a vengeful gigolo in Temptress Moon (Fengyue, 1996). He committed suicide by throwing himself from a terrace on the 24th floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel; Anita Mui lost her battle against cervical cancer 8 months later. On the concert stage she gravitated towards a femme fatale persona and appeared in several films by Hong Kong’s famed female director Ann Hui, playing both gold digger and middle class wife. Close friends in real life after Stanley Kwan gave them defining roles in this classic film that linked them in popular memory.
At the 8th Hong Kong Film Awards 1989 Rouge won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Anita Mui Yim-Fong), Best Editing (Cheung Yiu-Chung), Best Original Score (Lai Siu-Tin), Best Original Song ("Yin Ji Kau," performed by Anita Mui Yim-Fong)and was also nominated for Best Actor (Leslie Cheung Kwok-Wing), Best Screenplay (Yau Tai On Ping, Lee Pik-Wah), Best Cinematography (Wong Chung-Biu), Best Art Direction (Pok Yeuk-Muk, Ma Kwong-Wing). In Taiwan Anita Mui also won Best Actress Golden Horse Award, 1988.
Running time: 93 minutes
Our evening will be hosted by Bites Lounge by CHAI Living who have kindly provided the venue, equipment, a discount on the menu AND a specially prepared Tapas platter for RAS members to enjoy while watching the movie.
Donation suggested: RMB 20.00 (RAS members) and RMB 50.00 (non-members) those unable to make the donation but wishing to attend may contact us for exemption, prior to the RAS Film Club viewing. Membership applications and membership renewals will be available at this event.
RSVP: filmclub@royalasiaticsociety.org.cn RSVP ESSENTIAL AS SPACE IS LIMITED
FULL ADDRESS AND DIRECTIONS:
Bites Lounge by CHAI Living
Embankment Building, Ground Floor410C North Suzhou Road Hongkou
( betweenSichuan Road and Henan Road) Tel: (021)36033511
In Chinese: 河滨大楼，苏州北路410C底楼（在四川路河南路之间）
Line 10 to Tiantong Road – exit 5 brings you out at the corner of the two roads and you will see the back of the building on the diagonal corner.
OR
Line 2 to Nanjing East Road and walk across Henan Road bridge to North Suzhou Road – the large building on the right is Embankment Building.