Chinese Cinema

Parker Downey

21 November 2008

Two Great Minds of Chinese Cinema

Probably the two most famous of China 's Fifth Generation ' of film directors , Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou have each received both national and international acclaim for their contributions to the film world Both grew up bearing witness to China 's Cultural Revolution , and both became embroiled in the conflict in their own ways , leaving a distinctive mark on each of them . Both graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in 1982 , and worked together on the Fifth Generation 's breakout

br film Yellow Earth . theless , they are still two separate men with their own unique ideas and perspectives , and their own political and cultural views . Of particular note are two films that each depict characters enduring years of tumultuous change in China throughout historic events of the twentieth century : Chen 's Farewell My Concubine and Zhang 's To Live

Farewell My Concubine tells the story of two Beijing opera singers spending their lives doing what they have always been raised to do First meeting in the Beijing opera training school , Douzi and Shitou are brought up under brutal discipline , enduring frequent harsh beatings and at one time facing the suicide of a friend . They grow up to become opera stars known as Cheng Dieyi and Duan Xiaolou . Their staple performance is the play Farewell My Concubine , in which Xiaolou plays the king who is soon to fall to the rise of the Han dynasty , and Dieyi plays his concubine Yu...