Cinema Pacific’s Focus: China includes a selection of the most popular films coming out of the mainland. The box office hits selected are also artistic successes, directed by accomplished filmmakers.
THE FILMS OF FENG XIAOGANG
Two of the films are directed by “China’s Steven Spielberg,” Feng Xiaogang. Feng is best known for his New Year Comedies, huge box office successes released in time for the Chinese New Year. Feng’s comedies are pithily observant and critical dissections of the contemporary Chinese character, and If You Are the One is the finest and funniest of these. Comedies are not Feng’s only forte, and he has proved to be a master of several genres, including martial arts, war and action films. Aftershock, his disaster melodrama about the aftermath of the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, provoked an enormous catharsis among Chinese viewers and became China’s biggest box office success of all time. Viewers can see Aftershock and If You Are the One at the Bijou Art Cinemas, and explore more works by Feng Xiaogang on Cinema Pacific’s “Online Festival” website.
If You Are the One: April 9, 9:45 p.m., Bijou Art Cinemas
Aftershock: April 10, 4:00 p.m., Bijou Art Cinemas
JOHN WOO’S REIGN OF ASSASSINS
with guest producer Terence Chang
Reign of Assassins is a Chinese production co-directed by John Woo and Su Chao-pin. After leaving Hong Kong for Hollywood, where he directed such hits as Face/Off and Mission Impossible II, Woo returned to China to produce his epic war film, Red Cliff, in 2009. Reign of Assassins is a “wuxia” martial arts film in the mold of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and also stars Michelle Yeoh as the action heroine. The film was made by Woo with his longtime producing partner and UO alumnus Terence Chang, who is returning to Eugene for a conversation on his career at this year’s inaugural Cinema Pacific Industry Symposium.
Reign of Assassins: April 7, 9:45 p.m., Bijou Art Cinemas
LU CHUAN’S CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH
City of Life and Death is by another acclaimed Chinese director, Lu Chuan. The film, which depicts the highly charged subject of the Nanjing massacre by Japanese soldiers, was highly controversial because of its inclusion of a sympathetic Japanese protagonist. Beautifully filmed in black-and-white, the film won top awards at San Sebastian and other film festivals, and is soon to open theatrically in New York.