Celebrity Life

We chart the global ascent of Asian cinema, from blockbusters to independent arthouse.

At this exact moment in time, the world is in the thrall of Squid Game, the violence-soaked South Korean series that’s set records for Netflix (at 111 million viewers and counting) by becoming the platform’s most popular show ever.

Before that, Chloe Zhao’s history-making first Academy Awards as an Asian woman justifiably seized the spotlight at this year’s ceremony. But there’s also been the remarkable achievement of Hong Kong director Derek Tsang, which somehow missed the degree of attention it surely would have attracted in previous years.

So let’s start with a little reminder.

The Rise of Asian Cinema

This past year, Tsang became the first-ever Hong Kong-born director to have a feature film nominated for an Academy Award when his China-set bullying-and-crime themed drama Better Days was in the running for the Best International Feature Film award.

Better Days is only the second feature film the 41-year-old Tsang has directed on his own, and that its edgy, fringe-of-mainstream subject matter – and style – won over the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was a surprise, not least to the man himself, who admits, “We never really thought it was going to be that well-received, critically or commercially. We just thought we’d put a whole lot of heart into making this film – and hopefully, that would make the audience appreciate the effort and the story.”

But the world has woken up to what’s going on in Asia, and the nod to Tsang’s work was a further reflection of the growing influence and grip the region’s cinema – and its content creators – have on the global audience, both mainstream and art house. That notion was confirmed on the same Oscars night in April, when the China-born Zhao became the first Asian woman to win Best Director and Best Picture with Nomadland, her atmospheric and mesmerising portrait of age – and of an ageing America.

There’s increased interest, too, in the way Asian filmmakers tell their stories, and a welcome change in perception, given the traditional dominance of a viewpoint very much that of filmmakers who are predominately white, middle class and male.

Never one to miss the tide of public opinion, Hollywood has rapidly added depth to its talent pool, turning to Zhao to take the reins of the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero actioner Eternals, set for release this month and the first time an Asian woman has added her vision to the franchise. Meanwhile, the first Asian-led superhero flick, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has so far taken more than US$400 million from the global box office – with over $214 million of that in the US, making it 2021’s biggest blockbuster in America.

At this year’s Oscars, Korean-American Lee Isaac Chung’s family drama Minari was also in the running for Best Picture and Best Director (as well as Best Actor for Steven Yeun), and picked up the Best Supporting Actress award for the veteran Youn Yuh-jung, proving the change many hoped might follow Bong Joon-ho’s all-conquering Parasite last year has indeed been seismic.

The South Korean director had long called for the world at large to “overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles” and his stylishly dark and dystopian suburban thriller showed how easy that can be, as Bong walked away with four Oscars of his own in 2020, including those for Best Picture and Best Director.

So, yes, ignore the haters. It often really does take Oscars acknowledgement to wake up the cinema-going public, and the film industry itself. Just look where Tsang is now, at the time of writing. He didn’t win the Oscar – it went to the Danish black comedy Another Round – but he’s since been plucked from the relative obscurity of pre-Oscar life and set to work in London by the global streaming giant Netflix.

Tsang is currently directing two episodes of Netflix’s much-anticipated adaptation of Chinese author Liu Cixin’s acclaimed sci-fi epic Three-Body Problem, and he’s working under the gaze of the creative team that gave the world the Game of Thrones phenomenon.

“For sure, opportunity-wise there’s been a huge change [after the nomination],” Tsang says via Zoom, after a day on-set in London. “A lot of producers from different countries are reaching out to us and there’s a lot of talk about collaboration. “The past couple of years it’s really felt like there’s a demand for more Asian content, be it feature films or streaming content, with the success of Chloe Zhao and Crazy Rich Asians at the box office, and now Squid Game. It’s just like, all of a sudden, the momentum is really there.”

The Asian successes have continued on the international festival circuit in 2021, with Japan’s Ryusuke Hamaguchi taking away three prizes at Cannes, including Best Screenplay, for Drive My Car, following the Silver Bear he lifted from Berlin for Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy.

“Sometimes good stories have to come from a different country,” says Tsang, “and reading subtitles isn’t as big an obstacle as a lot of producers or studios once thought. So now everybody’s hungry for international content, not just Asian content, but for a good story that can travel well across different cultures and to different nations. It’s a really exciting time for Asian storytellers.”

In the art-house world, the festival circuit this year has so far been owned by the 42-year-old Hamaguchi, and a way of filmmaking that’s literary in texture, with long, slow takes of people engaged with each other, and no fear at all about his audience’s attention span. His love-soaked Happy Hour (2015) actually runs for five of them, while Drive My Car stretches for three.

Taken from a Haruki Murakami short story that traces the relationship between a widowed actor and the young woman he takes on as a driver, the latter has already been thrust forward as Japan’s hopeful for the next round of Oscars. It follows Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, which weaves its way around three coincidences and how they affect the love lives of his characters. These are films in which emotions and truth come as a slow reveal – as does the drama – and they’re steeped in a poetic style of cinema championed by Asian masters of yesteryear, such as Japan’s Yasujiro Ozu (Tokyo Story).

“In life, your heart is always trembling,” says Hamaguchi, when we talk via Zoom during this year’s Far East Film Festival in Italy. “It’s not stable. It’s very important that these characters are trembling like this, otherwise, they’d be boring characters. It’s by having these characters tremble like this that I can portray universal feelings. In a way, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy can be seen as a kind of an experiment with the way I’m telling the stories and I want to keep doing this – experimenting with storytelling.”

At last month’s Busan International Film Festival – the largest and most influential in Asia – both Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy and Drive My Car played as part of the Gala Presentation programme and Hamaguchi was joined on stage by Bong Joon-ho for a discussion of each other’s lives and times.

Ever the showman when an audience gathers, the Korean director admits to a personal obsession with Hamaguchi’s style of storytelling. “His movies help us experience the progress to the core of our inner emotions and feelings,” Bong says. “Thanks to his sophisticated and intricate portrayal, a three-hour film isn’t an obstacle.”

Another champion of slow-burn, atmospheric and emotive cinema, Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai is currently tucked away in Shanghai putting the finishing touches to his own plunge into pure mainstream, the suitably romantic-looking TV series Blossoms, set for streaming via Tencent Video. The Covid-19 lockdowns seem to have fast-tracked acceptance of and access to Asian content, globally.

“Streaming is a completely different platform from feature films, where you’re constrained by two hours, max,” says Tsang. “You can go for a couple of seasons to really develop your stories and your characters. As a filmmaker and as a storyteller, it’s just really exciting to have the option of choosing which storytelling platform or device is more suitable for your story.”

But that’s not to say that the big screen remains the dream. Thailand’s art-house darling and Cannes Palme d’Or-winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives) is another Asian filmmaker who’s crossed over into the mainstream this year – or as close to it as an artist who regularly features in his films characters from the spirit worlds might possibly ever get.

This year he released his first English-language feature – the mystery Memoria, starring Tilda Swinton – as the world wakes up to his unique talent and an almost mystical style of filmmaking.

“Nationality seems to be less relevant compared to 10-20 years ago,” he says. “The streaming platforms are good opportunities, as they target local content and audiences. I think the streaming platforms have created a different kind of moving image and formula. Yet they also make us aware that the cinema experience, the communal experience, is unique and precious.”

(Hero image courtesy of Netflix)

The post Eyes East: The Rise of Asian Cinema appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Academy award-winner Chloé Zhao is the director of Marvel’s much-anticipated Eternals. In an exclusive Interview, we talk to the Chinese director about the movie and her passion for the genre.

At the 2021 Oscars, Beijing-born director Chloé Zhao became the second woman and the first woman of colour in history to win the coveted Best Director award, for her film Nomadland. Moreover, the neo-Western drama that Zhao also wrote, produced and edited, took home the most prestigious statuette of the night, that for Best Picture.

After capturing global audiences with an in-depth and poetic character study that explores the effects of the Great Recession in the US, in her latest project, Marvel’s superhero film Eternals, Zhao directs a stellar ensemble cast, which includes Gemma Chan, Kit Harington, Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek, in an epic story that spans 7,000 years.

One of Marvel Studio’s most ambitious movies to date, the story, which is also co-written by Zhao, is based on the 1976 Eternals Marvel comic books and follows a group of diverse superheroes who defend humanity. We recently talked to Zhao about the movie, the challenges that came with such a big project and her passion for the superhero universe.

In Conversation with Chloé Zhao

In Eternals you’re bringing together different cultures in a multifaceted story. What do you like about this aspect?

When I came into the process, there was a treatment. And in the treatment [a document that presents the story idea of a film], there were stories taking place in Mumbai where Kingo [one of the characters] was a Bollywood star in the present day. I thought that it was so interesting, because we knew Kingo – played by Kumail Nanjiani – was going to be a character who embraces the side of humanity that loves pop culture, storytelling and showmanship. It was interesting to see
that the writers and the Marvel team didn’t just make him a Hollywood star but a Bollywood one.

It’s also great that the movie includes a beautiful Bollywood dance sequence. I thought it was incredible to include it in a big Marvel production.

Your resumé doesn’t necessarily scream “superhero movie”, but here you are. What did you think when you were first approached?

I wanted to work with the team at Marvel so badly, because I love their movies. But I also felt as if I had something to offer for this particular story. It’s a story that addresses questions that I have as a human being and I knew the making of it would allow me to grow.

You’re a fan of manga and fantasy movies. How important was the use of your imagination for this project?

I’m not just a fan, you know. I’m a proper fan-girl of the genre. When I was hired, I was able to sit down with the creative team and pull a lot of references. It was a mixed bag of movies that have nothing to do with each other. I think in this film you can see there’s a lot of different types of genres and references. Those conversations really seeped. We showed everything, from The Tree of Life to YuYu Hakusho, and the Harry Potter movies. We just looked at everything – and having a team at Marvel so open to trying crazy things was how we got here today.

What were the main challenges of directing such a big movie?

The lack of sleep. And to be able to prioritise. There are just so many important things, you know, there’s my cast, the camera, there’s building a world, there’s the script and all these things I have to make sure that I give an equal amount of attention to, but also sometimes you do have to prioritise one or another. That balance isn’t easy.

Most of your works are about finding a sense of belonging. Why are you particularly interested in this topic?

Lately I’ve been thinking about us as a species, as humanity. As a species, we’re always trying to leave home and search for something else: gold, opportunities, whatever it is. And then in the end, when we get older, we always end up wanting to go home. I think that that’s such a trend. As I’m getting older, I think about these themes quite a lot. Belonging and home.

What do you like about Marvel’s previous ensemble superhero movies?

I’ve always loved this type of ensemble storytelling. That comes from Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z, from my manga obsession growing up. But then I was also a big fan of the X Men movies, the earlier ones, when they came out. There’s something about belonging to a group of people and finding your place within this group that’s not necessarily your blood family. It’s so nice and
comforting to watch these people who don’t agree with each other or, you know, come from different walks of life and find commonality, something worth fighting for together. As human beings we like to watch these stories because we hope that we can all find common ground
and things that are worth fighting for and that unite us.

You mentioned that you think a lot about belonging and other similar things. Did you fear that things may get lost in translation in such a big pop-culture project?

For every film I make, I worry that things could get lost in translation. You know, I never know. I try not to go there. Because when a film is done, like right now, this movie is more yours than mine. The way Nomadland came out during the pandemic, for example. I had no idea how the film was going to relate to people when I made it.

Do you see yourself developing a sequel or other stories within this universe?

We were really encouraged to make a standalone movie and really make a film outside the main storyline. It does have repercussions for the future. But we got to see how this film interacts with the world and grows, and what shape or form it will take, and then we can make future plans. This film is not finished yet, the making of this film now is left to you guys. I loved working with my team at Marvel and I’d come back and work with them in a second.

Is it hard to direct such huge actors?

People think it might be harder, but it’s also hard to direct someone who’s never acted before, who doesn’t even care if they show up on set or not. What’s beautiful about this cast is that they were chosen because there’s something about who they are, that’s already the character. And, and so right away, they could walk away and build their characters themselves.

In a movie like this, how do you balance storytelling, action and special effects?

It wasn’t hard because I had such a great team. They’d ask me “What do you want?” “What is the thing you’re trying to do?” And then they’d find ways to present me with ideas. What I told everyone from the beginning was that everything has to happen for a reason. Things can’t just happen because they look cool. It has to be related to the story and character driven, both in visual effects and world building. Action also needs to have character development in it. World building has to have a lot of restraint and limitations because everything has to make sense.

The post Chloé Zhao on Directing Marvel’s Eternals and Her Passion for the Genre appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Gold House recently released the A100 list for 2021, showcasing the most influential Asians and Pacific Islanders (APIs) across a wide range of categories.

The post Top 10 Asian & Pacific Islander Leaders appeared first on LUXUO.