2005-02-09 01:51:54尚未設定
紫荊
(reviewed on 1/2/05)
紫荊 (Bauhinia)
year: 2002
country: Hong Kong, USA
directed by: 陳耀成 (Evans Chan)
Filmmaker Evans Chan has been living in New York for some 20 years, he was born in mainland China, bred in Macau, educated in Hong Kong and America. There's no doubt his background has given him an authoritative voice in the discussion of diaspotic experience, as can be seen from his earlier films, including '浮世戀曲 (To Liv(e))', which tells the dilemmas facing would-be emmigrants from Hong Kong, and '錯愛 (Crossings)', about the difficult lives of people that have moved to New York.
In a recent seminar held in the Hong Kong University, I had the pleasure to watch the director's cut of his 2002 short film, 'Bauhinia', which was initially made for broadcasting for the Radio Television Hong Kong. Surprisingly, this gloomy film about the dreadful experience of motherhood and 9/11 incident turns out to display a more optimistic vision of the director when compared with his other films, occasionally filled with deadpan humour. As an essayist himself, Chan likes to organize his film in the way an essay is structured. Stories are told while tons of intellectual statements are narrated, giving the whole an exceptionally poetic and meditative tone.
Chan briefly mentions that the major theme of the story was "trauma", which refers in the film to forced abortion under China's one-child policy, the female protagonist's decision to take an abortion, and the misfortune of a miscarriage. What he hasn't expected was the terrorist attack in September 2001, which naturally weaves into the final script. The film tells the story of a film student (played by 李珺 Jun Li) living in New York, who came from China via Hong Kong and has named herself after Hong Kong's city flower, Bauhinia. Her thesis film is planned to be about China's one-child policy, and her feelings to those interview footages of the suffering mother coincide with the discovery of her own pregnancy. Living in her studio which situates on the edge of the devastated Ground Zero, Bauhinia also has to find her courage and stand up to the threat of further terrorist attacks, the indecision of her rich boyfriend, Jack (played by 賈勝 Shing Ka), as well as the deteriorating (both physically and emotionally) environment surrounding her.
Filmed in the month after the 9/11 attack, the film powerfully captured the chaotic life conditions brought about by the traumatic experience at the time. 'Bauhinia' does not try to give a deliberate interpretation of the entire situation to provide false consolation; instead, it lets its confused protagonists carry on their lives, while consistently being forced into facing the harsh sides of both the city and their personal lives. The evaluation of life and death is touched on but not overstated - in one wonderful scene, Bauhinia wonders if her pregnancy is the reincarnation of a 9/11 victim, and then questions herself on whether those lost souls would like to come back to earth so swiftly after all. Not only has he not receded into some sentimental mournings, in this 50-minute short film, Evans Chan is insightful enough to observe the inability for an individual to give an objective discussion on a recent trauma - by the end of the film, Bauhinia understands that she's not in the best position to start an argument on the cruelty brought forth by China's one-child policy, following her own miscarriage.
On the one hand, judging by all standards, the films of Evans Chan have virtually no appeal to the mainstream audience, and the situation's unlikely to change. On the other hand, he will forever be embraced by the intellectual circuit. In particular, scholar Gina Marchetti found her chance to claim the groundbreaking quality of Chan's film during the seminar, even comparing the director with Eisenstein. I don't buy the claim whatsoever, but for one thing I won't hesitate to agree with: that Evans Chan is one of the most intellectual filmmakers nowadays, and we're surely glad to have him around.
rating: 9/10
紫荊 (Bauhinia)
year: 2002
country: Hong Kong, USA
directed by: 陳耀成 (Evans Chan)
Filmmaker Evans Chan has been living in New York for some 20 years, he was born in mainland China, bred in Macau, educated in Hong Kong and America. There's no doubt his background has given him an authoritative voice in the discussion of diaspotic experience, as can be seen from his earlier films, including '浮世戀曲 (To Liv(e))', which tells the dilemmas facing would-be emmigrants from Hong Kong, and '錯愛 (Crossings)', about the difficult lives of people that have moved to New York.
In a recent seminar held in the Hong Kong University, I had the pleasure to watch the director's cut of his 2002 short film, 'Bauhinia', which was initially made for broadcasting for the Radio Television Hong Kong. Surprisingly, this gloomy film about the dreadful experience of motherhood and 9/11 incident turns out to display a more optimistic vision of the director when compared with his other films, occasionally filled with deadpan humour. As an essayist himself, Chan likes to organize his film in the way an essay is structured. Stories are told while tons of intellectual statements are narrated, giving the whole an exceptionally poetic and meditative tone.
Chan briefly mentions that the major theme of the story was "trauma", which refers in the film to forced abortion under China's one-child policy, the female protagonist's decision to take an abortion, and the misfortune of a miscarriage. What he hasn't expected was the terrorist attack in September 2001, which naturally weaves into the final script. The film tells the story of a film student (played by 李珺 Jun Li) living in New York, who came from China via Hong Kong and has named herself after Hong Kong's city flower, Bauhinia. Her thesis film is planned to be about China's one-child policy, and her feelings to those interview footages of the suffering mother coincide with the discovery of her own pregnancy. Living in her studio which situates on the edge of the devastated Ground Zero, Bauhinia also has to find her courage and stand up to the threat of further terrorist attacks, the indecision of her rich boyfriend, Jack (played by 賈勝 Shing Ka), as well as the deteriorating (both physically and emotionally) environment surrounding her.
Filmed in the month after the 9/11 attack, the film powerfully captured the chaotic life conditions brought about by the traumatic experience at the time. 'Bauhinia' does not try to give a deliberate interpretation of the entire situation to provide false consolation; instead, it lets its confused protagonists carry on their lives, while consistently being forced into facing the harsh sides of both the city and their personal lives. The evaluation of life and death is touched on but not overstated - in one wonderful scene, Bauhinia wonders if her pregnancy is the reincarnation of a 9/11 victim, and then questions herself on whether those lost souls would like to come back to earth so swiftly after all. Not only has he not receded into some sentimental mournings, in this 50-minute short film, Evans Chan is insightful enough to observe the inability for an individual to give an objective discussion on a recent trauma - by the end of the film, Bauhinia understands that she's not in the best position to start an argument on the cruelty brought forth by China's one-child policy, following her own miscarriage.
On the one hand, judging by all standards, the films of Evans Chan have virtually no appeal to the mainstream audience, and the situation's unlikely to change. On the other hand, he will forever be embraced by the intellectual circuit. In particular, scholar Gina Marchetti found her chance to claim the groundbreaking quality of Chan's film during the seminar, even comparing the director with Eisenstein. I don't buy the claim whatsoever, but for one thing I won't hesitate to agree with: that Evans Chan is one of the most intellectual filmmakers nowadays, and we're surely glad to have him around.
rating: 9/10