Poster of Li of Pi
It is the season for the nation's film-loving public to give thanks. Never has a month featured such a strong lineup of good movies as this November. It is a wonder that popcorn trash such as 2012 with an extra dimension could still attract a sizeable audience.
However, discerning moviegoers are having a hard time choosing from five feature films. A Separation, from Iran but loaded with international awards, belatedly landed in Chinese cinemas. Of the lessons it imparted, two are extremely memorable: A limited budget is no excuse for not making a good movie, and ditto for censorship.
Feng Shui has been hailed by some as China's answer to A Separation. With the dubious reputation of boycotting the Tokyo International Film Festival, this art-house flick has its focus on a disintegrating family. It also gives you a glimpse of the changing times. What it lacks is the kind of depth that made A Separation an instant classic. I came out of the theater feeling bad for the family, but would not associate it with the whole nation.
Ang Lee's Life of Pi looked like it was going to be crushed by the 3-D version of 2012 - until word of mouth saved it and turned it into a cultural event. People are endlessly debating the truth of what they saw on the screen, and those who have not seen it have to suffer the spoilers thrown at them like a hurricane of arrows, or more accurately, the flying fish in the movie.
The wow factor of the middle section on the high seas has given me pause about the pros and cons of 3-D as an evolving technology. In a sense, Life of Pi convinced me that 3-D does not need to be in your face or icing on the cake. In the hands of a true master, it can be an essential part of the drama, just like music or acting. Now, I'm seriously thinking what great movies could have benefited from 3-D, and my number one choice is Kubrick's 2001 Space Odyssey. What an experience that would be! Someone please contact the Kubrick estate.
Thematically, Ang Lee has infused his movie with such nuance and subtlety that one can believe whatever version, or combination thereof, one chooses. He was not proselytizing for religion, but nudging movie-viewers to have faith in the good common to us all. Even if you saw only a Disney version of the story and were totally oblivious to the evils in the world, that says something good about yourself as well. The debate, not the conclusion, is the fruit of the narrative design.
I believe that Feng Xiaogang's Back to 1942 tells the same story - thematically speaking - as Life of Pi. They are two sides of the same coin. Both touch on cannibalism, faith, good versus evil, and use an outsider as a narrator. What Lee hints, Feng elaborates on. Likewise, Pi's adventure on the surreally beautiful ocean is boiled down in the last scene of 1942 when the starving protagonist limps toward his hometown to die and stumbles upon an orphan girl at the roadside, whose survival is embodied in the cryptic voiceover of what turns out to be her grandson.
The Last Supper, Lu Chuan's latest feature, resembles Feng's 1942 in the sense that both present history with a new twist. While Feng digs out a forgotten chapter in China's not-too-distant past, Lu retells the oft-repeated tale of 2,000 years ago, when Liu Bang and Xiang Yu attempt to outsmart each other to topple and succeed the despotic First Emperor Qin.
Lu completely eschews the melodrama and brings out the dark psyche of the main character. Liu Bang in this version is Shakespearean in portrayal - grand one moment and humble the next, and full of caprice and paranoia. The second half of the film is about a ruler who has no opponent except his own sick mind. The way he persecutes his loyal ministers who helped him obtain the throne is a chilling reminder of the corrupting power of the throne, as exhibited nonstop down the corridor of history.
If you wonder where evil comes from, the three movies actually point to the same direction: the mind that is out of control of human decency, either by chance or by design.