RAS FILM CLUB
Sunday 16th October, 2011 6.00pm for 6.30pm at
Embankment Building, Ground Floor
河滨大楼，苏州北路
RAS FILM CLUB – 3RD SUNDAY OF EVERY MONTH – OCTOBER 16TH
Huozhe, 1994
To Live (or Lifetimes)
Directed by Zhang Yimou
Produced by Shanghai Film Studio
Mandarin with English subtitles
Based on the novel by Yu Hua
Cast: Gong Li, Ge You
Far less sumptuously photographed than the films for which China’s leading Fifth Generation director Zhang Yimou is renowned (Judou, Raise the Red Lantern), To Live sweeps through 30 years of history, from the pre-revolutionary
The film opens with scenes of an opulent, but crumbling lifestyle, as Fugui (Ge You) loses his family fortune in a gambling house where he is treated as royalty. Gambling all night, he returns to his opulent home carried on the back of a servant. His wife, Jiazhen, (Gong Li) begs him to stop gambling for the sake of their small daughter but, of course, her pleas fail and the home is lost to Long Er. The first of many comic ironies throughout the film turns this tragedy into extraordinary good luck for Fugui as the Communists burn the house and execute the landowning Long Er. A bystander comments to Fu Gui ‘Your family’s timber was first-rate’ to which Fu Gui, having learnt a sense of survival, replies ‘That wasn't my family's timber, that was counterrevolutionary timber." It is this tragicomic voice that sums up the soul of ‘To Live.”
Whilst the territory covered by To Live is a familiar one for China’s Fifth Generation of filmmakers, grand stories mingling tragedy with triumph, Zhang Yimou produces a marvelously textured film that avoids looking at cultural change on an epic scale, preferring a far more intimate and effective perspective. "I believe that for a long time now Chinese films have been too abstract, conceptual, gimmicky. They don't relate at all to the lives of ordinary Chinese people. I'm certain that most audiences will like this film. We haven't gone overboard on the tragic elements, but rather have focused on the minute, amusing details in the life of a nobody. There are tears and laughter, one following the other in a gentle rhythm like the breath of a bellows." Zhang Yimou
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize, nominated for the Palme d’Or and Gu Ye won Best Actor awards at the Cannes Film Festival 1994; Best Foreign Language Film, BAFTA 1995; nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, Golden Globe Awards, 1994. Banned by the Chinese Government and Zhang Yimou prohibited from making films for 2 years.
Run Time: 125 minutes
Our evening will be hosted by Bites Living 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.
Entrance: 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 Floor
( between
In Chinese: 河滨大楼，苏州北路
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