17-4-09: ‘NANJING’ COMES TO BEIJING

In the Chinese capital for the launch of a masterwork.

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I flew to prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /Beijing for the launch of my friend director Lu Chuan’s new film, ‘ Nanjing, Nanjing’ AKA ‘City of Life and Death’. Lu first attracted cineaste interest with his Tibet set modern day Western ‘Mountain Patrol’. That was an impressive sophomore effort, but ‘ Nanjing’ takes him to another level as a world class film-maker. Shot in luminous black-and-white, this historical epic delivers an unforgettably powerful and perceptive view of a burning page in Chinese history. (I know I’m biased because my company, TWC, is negotiating for the North American distribution rights, but I think that, after seeing it, few will dispute that this is a bona fide modern masterpiece.)

I arrive at the Chaoyang Ritz Carlton. This is meant to be a 5 star hotel, but it seems that, every time I ask the front desk to help with something, they tell me to do it myself! If I wanted to do things for myself, I’d have stayed at home (or in the YMCA).

The evening before the ‘ Nanjing’ opening event, I have dinner with director Lu, or try to, as he is constantly called from the table to answer calls from executives or the press, and, after we’re done, he hurries off to endure interviews that go late into the night.

I repair with some friends to the legendary Suzie Wong’s. I’m just thinking that I’m far enough from Hong Kong that I can afford to misbehave, when I hear voices calling my name. Its director Kirk Wong (Crime Story, The Big Hit) and friends, and we join forces for a night of raucous revelry.

The following day, I’ve been invited to participate in a TV show called ‘First Screen’ (or something similar). This is taking the place of a conventional premiere (there’s to be no actual showing of the film), with the film-makers gathered to discuss the project on national television just before it premieres. The studio is located only ten minutes from my hotel, but the Beijing traffic is so slow, we abandon the cab and walk there instead.

I meet director Lu and the film’s producer, Han San-ping, in a small ante-room to discuss various business matters. (My thanks to the invaluable Isabelle Glachant for her help at this meeting.) Mr Han is currently directing his own historical epic, ‘The Great Cause of Founding of the Nation’, in Shanghai, and has flown back to Beijing for the ‘ Nanjing’ show.

Afterwards, I and my impromptu translator, producer Lily Ma, are led into the TV studio where the programme will be filmed. I chat with actor Liu Ye, who plays a Kuomintang guerilla fighter in the film. Some months ago, he shot his first American film, Dark Matter, with Meryl Streep. What’s amazing about his work in ‘ Nanjing’ is that he conveys so much with virtually no dialogue. One of the most striking about the whole film is the performances Lu elicits from everyone around Liu and the other leads. These people, who would be in lesser films described as ‘extras’, are the real stars of this one.

Three seats along from me, there’s a man with an inch and a half spike piercing his lower lip. I guess if you were dating him, love really would hurt…

The show opens with a small chamber orchestra playing the haunting orchestral theme from the film, while a selection of black-and-white clips plays on a broad screen. It’s really very moving. This is followed by on stage interviews and presentations about various aspects of the production, and its historical backdrop. Incongruously, two singers perform pop songs, also against footage from ‘ Nanjing’.

The cast and crew related their various experiences on and feelings about making the film, including two Japanese actors who have flown in for the launch. The latter pair look very young and dapper, totally removed from their on-screen personas.

When it’s my turn, I tell the audience what a magnificent achievement the film is, and how much I, and we (TWC), are hoping to work with the producers to bring it to the west. After I leave the stage, a videotaped and very touching message from director Lu’s father, a former screenwriter, is played, and he tells the audience how proud he is of his son’s work. This brings tears to the eyes of Lu, and the female cast members.

After the show, we leave the building and, with my usual profound desire to sample local culture, head down the streets to TGIs. A man stops me, holding a pile of pirate DVDs. He flicks through them, describing the relative merits of each film with one of two words: “Funny, funny, Oscar, funny, Oscar, Oscar, funny…” That’s The Weinstein Company story right there…