PSIFF 2013: CAUGHT IN THE WEB

Ye Lanqiu (Yuanyaun Gao) in Caught in the Web.

Spinning yarns

By Miranda Inganni

Caught in the Web tells the tale of a terminally ill woman’s online character assassination in director Chen Kaige’s (Farewell My Concubine) latest film.

One day, budding news reporter Yang Jiaqi (Luodan Wang) secretly records on her phone a seemingly rude and selfish woman on a bus. Through Jiaqi’s cousin’s girlfriend (and Jiaqi’s housemate), Chen Ruoxi (Chen Yao) -- a young woman establishing herself as a reporter -- the video goes viral and becomes the topic of the day. Unbeknown to them, the video’s subject, Ye Lanqiu (Yuanyuan Gao), has just learned that she has advanced lymphatic cancer.

Lanqiu becomes an Internet villain overnight. Known simply as “Sunglasses Girl,” until her jealous colleague identifies her online, the scandal sends Lanqiu into hiding, but not until Jiaqi and her cousin, Yang Shoucheng (Mark Chao) film Lanqiu’s sincere apology for the ordeal.

In the meantime, Lanqiu has asked her boss, company president Shen Liushu (Xuegi Wang) for a loan and time off from her executive assistant position. Unfortunately for all involved, Mr. Shen’s wife (Chen Hong) interrupts the tearful moment and misreads the situation.

Lanqiu ends up hiring Shoucheng to ostensibly protect her from herself and to experience as much as possible out of the time that she has left.

And that’s only the first part of this China's most recent Oscar submission for Best Film in a Foreign Language. Whew!

With more plot twists and turns than any historic (or histrionic) romance, Caught in the Web is entertaining and intriguing. Mrs. Shen finds herself in a loveless marriage to a husband who relishes his power more than his wife or wealth. Mr. Shen enjoys manipulating the lives of those who he believes have caused him some harm, including his wife. Ruoxi will stop at nothing to establish her career in the industry while Jiaqi merely wants to play ball in the big league. Shoucheng wants to be a loyal boyfriend to Ruoxi, but finds himself falling for Lanqiu. Lanqiu on the other hand, as the only one who knows that her time is limited, doesn’t want to allow herself to get too close to anyone, even at the cost of her own reputation.

The performances throughout this drama/comedy are equally as excellent as the levels of intrigue. The human capacity for a knee-jerk response to even perceived gossip is an overwhelming theme to Caught in the Web, as is the point that anyone at any time can be destroyed by the power of the inter-webs.

 

TRIBECA 2012: HIGH TECH, LOW LIFE

A scene from High Tech, Low Life.

Undercover brothers

By Don Simpson

Similar to Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, Stephen Maing’s High Tech, Low Life looks at the Chinese government’s tyrannical control over the dissemination of information; but whereas Alison Klayman conveys the message(s) of her documentary via the perspective of a provocative multimedia artist, Maing utilizes two bloggers who achieve a similar goal with drastically different approaches.

Zola is a cocky young blogger who represents the “new guard” of Chinese revolutionaries. His unassuming appearance allows him to pass as just another bystander taking photos, rather than attracting attention to himself as a journalist. Zola’s goal is to document newsworthy events and tell the truth before the government has a chance to cover-up the facts. He then relies upon his notoriety and fame to communicate the truth to the legions of loyal fans who follow his blog.

Tiger Temple is part of the “old guard” of Chinese revolutionaries. He functions as an investigative reporter, interviewing people in order to document the ways in which they have been wronged by their government. Whereas Zola just blogs about events, Tiger Temple goes beyond just blogging. He actively assists his downtrodden subjects in a concerted effort to improve their situation.

Not only does High Tech, Low Life observe the detrimental effects of censorship in China, but it also functions as a smart compare and contrast piece on the ways two different generations attempt to change their situation.

NBFF 2011: BODYGUARDS AND ASSASSINS

Sum Chung-yang (Donnie Yen) in Bodyguards and Assassins.

Re(a)d history

By John Esther

After a 40-minute delay, the Newport Beach Film Festival screened (somewhat incompetently: wrong ratio aspects, reel-changing snafus) the 140-minute film, Bodyguards and Assassins, to a surprisingly half-empty theater. Notwithstanding the delay, it was a Saturday afternoon, it was the festival's only screening of the epic film, it featured martial arts star Donnie Yen (Hero; Ip Man) and the 2009 film has not been set for a U.S. theatrical release. I presumed the theater would be packed to capacity. 

(The film will screen at both the San Francisco International Film Festival and the Seattle International Film Festival in May.) 

Directed by Teddy Chan, Bodyguards and Assassins sets itself in British-rule Hong Kong, 1906, where a group of dedicated democrats pledge to protect Dr. Sun Wen (Zhang Hanyu) from a group of Qing assassins dedicated to the kind of law and order we see tyrannical rulers trying to preserve currently in Syria, Iran and Libya. And China.

For those seeking nonstop martial action and little else, look elsewhere. There is plenty of plot, back story and character development here. Director Chan and writers Tim Nam Chun, Junli Guo, Bing Wu and James Yuen want audiences to know the motivations behind each of the main historical characters, most of which happen to be, legally speaking in U.S. terms, kids. Seventeen-year-old Chong-huang (Wang Po-cheih) is set to attend school in the United States, but would rather stay and fight for a new China. Chow Tofu (Mengke Bateer) is a very big, seemingly invincible teenager from Shaolin moved by anti-authoritarianism. Recently-orphaned Fang Hong (Li Yuchun) learns at the age of 16 what is really important.

A fine film in some regards (impressive set design; crafty fight scenes; dialogue about East versus West values), Bodyguards and Assassins, is suspicious in light of China's current regime. Young characters ready to shed blood for the revolution, the reported $23-million dollar film is not only about learning Chinese history, but also about perpetuating sentiments of China's current revolution for today's youth. Keep up your Red Guard.

Starting from its simplistic title cuing the youth to the queues to see those martial arts queues (both historical and cinematic symbols -- depending on one's age and knowledge of Sino history), once we learn to love, at least like, the characters in Bodyguards and Assassins, the film revs up for some hyperbolic action. The targeted demographic: young viewers. History gets traded for histrionics as the film's protagonists fight with superhuman skills -- fighting multiple-armed people simultaneously and prevailing, withstanding increasing brutality and enduring hardship, all for the future of country. No sacrifice is too great for the children of the revolution. After the main protagonists die we get a bio clip underneath with name, city of origin, year of birth, year of death. Immortalized. 

It is not just the youth here, either. Yen's character, Sum Chung-yang, is an undetermined-aged (how convenient) policeman with a checkered past. A gambler opened to the highest bidder, he, too, learns that he must sacrifice himself for a better tomorrow. When heroes, historical or cinematic, die on the screen, the message of sacrifice to an audience is similar -- if not repetitive to an illiterate viewer.

For Occidental eyes, Bodyguards and Assassins is more of a playful recreation of history than anything else. There is story and action. The good guys and gal prevail before his and her magnanimous deaths and the British Empire takes a chop to the sternum (although it can still get its people to fork over $30 million for a royal wedding). But for those under the rule of China's thumb -- beyond being financially indebted to it -- Bodyguard and Assassins illustrates something else, quite insidious.