June 2, 2011
The Best of Global Lens China
Jeremiah Tash READ TIME: 2 MIN.
China's general contribution to film tends to fall into two categories: government-funded pacification, and other. The films included in the "Best of Global Lens: China" were all made in conjunction with foreign investment (in this case the GFI, or Global Film Initiative), and were all exported to international film festivals, where they won various awards. Simply reading the synopses on the DVD box clearly delineates the hot-button issues in modern China: human trafficking, marriage, abortion, and upward mobility.
"Dim Street", directed by Li Yu, is about a provincial 16 year-old who gets pregnant, fakes a stillbirth, and gives the child up for adoption, and then a decade later the girl is forced to deal with her decision all over again, incidentally befriending her son without initially knowing who he is.
"Stolen Life", directed by Li Shaohong, is about Yanni, a young girl who is about to go to college when strange goings-on affect her and her family's lives.
"Uniform", directed by Dia Yinan, is the story of Wang, a tailor who finds a policeman's uniform in his shop and begins to impersonate a cop. In order to pay for his dad's medical bills he goes on the take, and ends up falling in love with a woman while posing as a cop.
"Luxury Car", arguably the centerpiece of the collection, won an award at Cannes (the 'Prix Un Certain Regard') and hits on themes of death, prostitution, family, and the provincial versus the urbane. A father, whose wife is dying, goes to Wuhan (a city in Central China) to visit his daughter and find his missing son. She works at a karaoke bar (the Chinese equivalent of strip clubs) where her older gangster boyfriend turns out to have been responsible for the brother's disappearance. While Chinese people aren't as impoverished as, say Indians, or even other Asians, the social issues raised are applicable in and less-developed, or developing nation.
"Best of" is a good way to really dive into not only the landscape, but also the psyche of China. Obviously four 90-minute films is not comprehensive, but it's a great big world out there.
