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Chen Kaige _____________________________
China (1952-)
As the chaos of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution was gathering steam, Chen, a 15-year-old member of the notorious Red Guard, publicly denounced his father. He later partially reenacted that day during the heartbreaking climax of Farewell, My Concubine (1989). During the late '60s, he was sent to labor in a rubber plantation in southwestern Yunnan province. In 1978, Chen entered the Beijing Film Academy. He and such classmates as Zhang Yimou, Tian Zhuangzhuang, and Zhang Junzhao would eventually become the core of the Fifth Generation.
In 1984, he collaborated with classmates Zhang Yimou and Hu Qun to create the landmark film Yellow Earth (1984), which stunned critics and audiences in its international debut at the Hong Kong Film Festival and brought worldwide Yellow Earth's detached tone, measured pace, and gorgeous visuals came as a revelation for a nation previously known for cranking out revolutionary operas that espoused the teachings of Mao.
His 1992 work, Farewell My Concubine, marked a clear turning point in Chen's career, away from pure art and toward commercial success. Academy Award nomination, and it proved a commercial success, raking in millions of dollars in the U.S. alone. (Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide)
MAJOR FILMS:
See China resources pages for background information on the Beijing Opera and Buddhism.
"A Get-Together with Chen Kaige." Film Freak Central. www.filmfreakcentral.net. 19 October, 2002. Brief interview with the director. "Chen Kaige: Cultural Resolution." www.independent.co.uk. 12 December 2003. Another brief interview. Susman, Gary. "Banned in Beijing." Movie Reviews. The Phoenix Communications Group. 24 July 1997. Brief review that discusses censorship and Farewell My Concubine. Chen, Pauline. "History Lessons." Film Comment. 30.2 (March 1994): 85-88.
Cheshire, Godfrey. "The Long Way Home." Film Comment. 28.4 (July 1992): 36-40.
Browne, Nick. New Chinese Cinemas: Forms, Identities, Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1994.
Dissanayake, Wimal. Colonialism and Nationalism in Asian Cinema. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994.
Semsel, George S. Chinese Film Theory. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1990.
Zhang, Xudong. Chinese Modernism in the Era of Reforms: Cultural Fever, Avant-Garde Fiction, and New Chinese Cinema (Post-Contemporary Interventions). Durham: Duke University Press, 1997. |
Chen Kaige is one of China's most prominent and influential directors, and perhaps the central figure in China's Fifth Generation of filmmakers. Born Chen Aige in Beijing, he was the son of noted director Chen Huaiai, who directed a number of popular films during the 1950s and 1960s.