Directed by Zhang Yang, Produced by Harvey Wong, Liu Qiang, Er Yong, Stanley Tong, Zhang Yang
Written by Zhang Yang, Wang Yao
Cast: Zhou Benshan (Zhao), Hong Qiwen (Liu), Song Dandan
Mandarin with English subtitles
Of a similar age to Jia Zhang Ke, Wang Xiaoshuai, and Lou Ye, Zhang Yang (born 1967) is technically a 6th Generation filmmaker, but unlike his peers, his movies are not readily categorised as international art house. Whilst they do not fit into the edginess of the ‘urban generation’, nor do they have the historical drama of Chen Kaige or Zhang Yimou, or the subdued craftsmanship of Hou Hsiao-hsien or Tian Zhuangzhuang. His films have a distinctive approach that has allowed his work to be admired by a wide audience and be accepted by the Chinese censors, while dealing with potentially sensitive and traumatic themes. His earlier movies (Spicy Love Soup (1997), Quitting (2001), Sunflower (2005), Shower (1999)), like Getting Home, can be seen as falling within the framework of a strand of Chinese drama known as lunli qinqing pian, or “ethical family-affection films, where the home is the battleground for struggle between tradition and modern life. In Shower, a minor indie hit film overseas; this battle took the form of melodrama and often-unfunny comedy within a traditional Beijing bathhouse surviving the capital’s relentless urban development. The discontent in this movie, between old-fashioned fathers and their new world sons, was taken up in Quitting, the context here being drug addiction and the parental bewilderment and humiliation that goes along with it, and in Sunflower that is an autobiographical take on the 30 year aftermath of the Cultural Revolution. He has been criticised for being too much of a crowd pleaser, trivialising China’s social issues, but he has grown as a filmmaker through these movies, reaching a level in Getting Home that shows him at the top of his game using the same oeuvre and the tools of melodrama and comedy to impressive effect. The Chinese title of Getting Home, luo ye gui gen, is a common expression meaning ‘falling leaves return to their roots’, and the popular TV actor and stage comedian Zhao Benshan is expertly cast as a middle-aged factory worker who first encounters death of a friend and then becomes the ‘driver’ in a road movie. The friend needs to be taken from Shenzhen back to his family in Chongqing to be buried, and the movie follows Zhao as he travels through the many forms of poverty in China’s vast countryside. Based on a true story, it chronicles the kindnesses and cruelties he encounters on the margins of society, and examines the possibility of attaining human dignity when it seems to lie outside the person’s financial capacity. Almost like a silent comedy, Zhao is victimised by the physical and social landscape against which he reacts with ingenuity, often with comedic effect. Love of country and devotion to family are persistent themes and with optimism, rather than rage or sorrow, Zhang Yang succeeds in providing a view of poverty that may not be entirely believable but that reminds us that desperation is not the only emotion. AWARD Berlin International Film Festival 2007, Jury Award 109 minutesOur 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.
RSVP ESSENTIAL AS SPACE IS LIMITED, RAS MEMBERS WILL RECEIVE PRIORITY BOOKING UNTIL FRIDAY 16TH MARCH, 2012 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.