Fruit Chan's Made in Hong Kong PDF
Preview Fruit Chan's Made in Hong Kong
FRUIT CHAN’S Made in Hong Kong Hong Kong University Press thanks Xu Bing for writing the Press’s name in his Square Word Calligraphy for the covers of its books. For further information see p. iv. Made in HK ch 001 1 8/10/09, 12:55 PM THE NEW HONG KONG CINEMA SERIES The New Hong Kong Cinema came into existence under very special circumstances, during a period of social and political crisis resulting in a change of cultural paradigms. Such critical moments have produced the cinematic achievements of the early Soviet cinema, neorealism, the nouvelle vague, and the German cinema of the 1970s and, we can now say, the New Hong Kong Cinema. If this cinema grew increasingly intriguing in the 1980s, after the announcement of Hong Kong’s return to China, it is largely because it had to confront a new cultural and political space that was both complex and hard to define, where the problems of colonialism were uncannily overlaid with those of globalism. Such uncanniness could not be caught through straight documentary or conventional history writing: it was left to the cinema to define it. Has the creative period of the New Hong Kong Cinema now come to an end? However we answer the question, there is a need to evaluate the achievements of Hong Kong cinema. This series distinguishes itself from the other books on the subject by focusing in-depth on individual Hong Kong films, which together make the New Hong Kong Cinema. Series General Editors Ackbar Abbas, Wimal Dissanayake, Mette Hjort, Gina Marchetti, Stephen Teo Series Advisors Chris Berry, Nick Browne, Ann Hui, Leo Lee, Li Cheuk-to, Patricia Mellencamp, Meaghan Morris, Paul Willemen, Peter Wollen, Wu Hung Other titles in the series Andrew Lau and Alan Mak’s Infernal Affairs – The Trilogy by Gina Marchetti Fruit Chan’s Durian Durian by Wendy Gan John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow by Karen Fang Jonn Woo’s Bullet in the Head by Tony Williams John Woo’s The Killer by Kenneth E. Hall Johnnie To Kei-fung’s PTU by Michael Ingham King Hu’s A Touch of Zen by Stephen Teo Mabel Cheung Yuen-ting’s An Autumn’s Tale by Stacilee Ford Peter Ho-sun Chan’s He’s a Woman, She’s a Man by Lisa Odham Stokes Stanley Kwan’s Center Stage by Mette Hjort Tsui Hark’s Zu: Warriors From the Magic Mountain by Andrew Schroeder Wong Kar-wai’s Ashes of Time by Wimal Dissanayake Wong Kar-wai’s Happy Together by Jeremy Tambling Yuen Woo-ping’s Wing Chun by Sasha Vojkovi´c Made in HK ch 001 2 8/10/09, 12:55 PM FRUIT CHAN’S Made in Hong Kong Esther M. K. Cheung Made in HK ch 001 3 8/10/09, 12:55 PM Hong Kong University Press 14/F Hing Wai Centre 7 Tin Wan Praya Road Aberdeen Hong Kong © Hong Kong University Press 2009 ISBN 978-962-209-977-7 All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Secure on-line Ordering http://www.hkupress.org Printed and bound by Pre-Press Ltd., Hong Kong, China Hong Kong University Press is honoured that Xu Bing, whose art explores the complex themes of language across cultures, has written the Press’s name in his Square Word Calligraphy. This signals our commitment to cross-cultural thinking and the distinctive nature of our English-language books published in China. “At first glance, Square Word Calligraphy appears to be nothing more unusual than Chinese characters, but in fact it is a new way of rendering English words in the format of a square so they resemble Chinese characters. Chinese viewers expect to be able to read Square Word Calligraphy but cannot. Western viewers, however are surprised to find they can read it. Delight erupts when meaning is unexpectedly revealed.” — Britta Erickson, The Art of Xu Bing Made in HK ch 001 4 8/10/09, 12:55 PM To Maria, Tom, and Sabrina Made in HK ch 001 5 8/10/09, 12:55 PM SERIES PREFACE Table of Contents Series Preface ix Acknowledgements xiii 1 Introduction: History beyond the Death Trips 1 2 Authenticity and Independence: Fruit Chan and 21 Independent Filmmaking 3 There Are Many Ways to Be Realistic 39 4 The Art of Détournement 53 5 In Search of the Ghostly in Context 79 6 In Search of the Ghostly in Urban Spaces 101 7 Epilogue: Grassrooting Cinematic Practices 125 Made in HK ch 001 7 8/10/09, 12:55 PM ●viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Appendix 1: Interview with Fruit Chan 129 Appendix 2: Funding Sources and Awards 145 Notes 151 Credits 167 Bibliography 171 Made in HK ch 001 8 8/10/09, 12:55 PM ●ix Series Preface The New Hong Kong Cinema came into existence under very special circumstances, during a period of social and political crisis resulting in a change of cultural paradigms. Such critical moments have produced the cinematic achievements of the early Soviet cinema, neorealism, the nouvelle vague, the German cinema in the 1970s and, we can now say, the recent Hong Kong cinema. If this cinema grew increasingly intriguing in the 1980s, after the announcement of Hong Kong’s return to China, it was largely because it had to confront a new cultural and political space that was both complex and hard to define, where the problems of colonialism were overlaid with those of globalism in an uncanny way. Such uncanniness could not be caught through straight documentary or conventional history writing; it was left to the cinema to define it. It does so by presenting to us an urban space that slips away if we try to grasp it too directly, a space that cinema coaxes into existence by whatever means at its disposal. Thus it is by eschewing a narrow idea of relevance and pursuing disreputable genres like Made in HK ch 001 9 8/10/09, 12:55 PM
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