FJI correspondent J. Sperling Reich continues his reports from Cannes with a look at two provocative films from China.
Lately, it has been nearly impossible to avoid any news publication, industry-focused or even general-interest, that isn't writing about the rise of the Chinese motion picture industry and prognosticating on when it will overtake North America as the box-office champion. This is hardly the reason three films from China appear in the official selection at this year's Cannes Film Festival. In fact, at least two Chinese filmmakers have brought movies to Cannes that paint very bleak portraits of modern-day China. Rather than a country ascending economically and politically, Jia Zhang-Ke's A Touch of Sin and Flora Lau's Bends depict a fractured society in which a lopsided division of wealth has created a population of ever more desperate and repressed citizens.
Many festival-goers have expressed surprise a Chinese filmmaker could produce a film that is in any way critical of the country, which A Touch of Sin most certainly is. Jia has chosen an omnibus format to tell four separate, though loosely linked, stories whose underlying themes revolve around the corruption and violence brought about by the emergence of capitalism and money. According to the director's statement in the press notes, each of the stories is based on an incident "well-known to people throughout China.”
The first story is that of a minor who decides to seek his own deadly justice against village officials who are not sharing in profits from the sale of a state-owned coal mine. This is followed by a segment about a migrant worker's realization that wielding a gun provides a certain amount of power. The third story centers around a woman working as a receptionist at a spa who goes on a murderous rampage after an important client tries to sexually assault her. The final tale is that of a young man trying find his place in the world through a series of jobs, ultimately leading to his own suicide.
This fourth story is drawn from reports that have made their way outside of China about numerous suicides taking place at Foxconn, manufacturer of Apple's iPhone. The portion detailing the receptionist is drawn from an infamous 2009 account of a nail salon worker named Deng Yujiao who stabbed and killed a local government leader after he propositioned her and treated her like a prostitute.
Bends, on the other hand, is a more cerebral film raising the question of identity within Chinese society. It interweaves two connected stories: those of a rich Hong Kong socialite named Anna and her chauffeur, Fai. The movie is set on the Hong Kong-Shenzhen border and shows signs of the tensions between Mainland China and Hong Kong. As Anna tries to conceal her family's financial demise, Fai becomes consumed with finding some way to get his pregnant wife into Hong Kong so she can give birth to their second child outside of Mainland China. As the story progresses, an unlikely and unspoken bond forms between the two characters.
It's hard to believe the Chinese government would want these kinds of stories to be detailed in a film shown domestically, let alone one screened at one of the largest and most prestigious film festivals in the world. Yet Chinese journalists assured the rest of the international press corps here in Cannes that the films would indeed be released theatrically in China. Some suggested the only censorship that might take place would be the removal of a few hyper-violent shots in A Touch of Sin.
That would be ironic given Jia’s explanation of why his movie contains so much violent imagery and narrative. "China is still changing rapidly, in a way that makes the country look more prosperous than before," wrote Jia in his director's statement. "But many people face personal crisis because of the uneven spread of wealth across the country and the vast disparities between the rich and the poor. Individual people can be stripped of their dignity at any time. Violence is increasing. It's clear that resorting to violence is the quickest and most direct way that the weak can try to restore their lost dignity."
Both A Touch of Sin and Bends were positively received when they screened early in the festival, which might not mean very much back in China. After all, upon discovering his luggage had been stolen out of his hotel room, China Film Group vice president Zhang Qiang tweeted, "This film festival is not worth mentioning!"
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