Chinese Filmmakers: Influence of Bergman, Antonioni Hard to Neglect

Chinese Filmmakers: Influence of Bergman, Antonioni Hard to Neglect

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Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni finally lost the chess game to Death. Among those who lined up to pay respects to the masters are Chinese filmmakers, who say the pair's influence on Chinese cinema is hard to neglect.

Wu Guanping, chief editor of Film Art Bimonthly, says the two, especially Antonioni, has a great influence on the fifth and sixth generations of Chinese directors, because the two's works have always been an important course in China's film academies. The fifth generation includes directors who graduated from Beijing Film Academy around early 1980s, including Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige; the sixth generation usually refers to young directors born in the late 1960s and early 70s, such as Jia Zhangke and Wang Xiaoshuai.

In Wu's opinion, however, Antonioni plays a more influential role than Bergman.

"Maybe it is hard to find a Chinese director who bears a strong imprint of Antonioni in all of his or her works," he says. "But definitely you will feel the delicate influence in cuts, use of color or camera movements in many works."

As Wu explained, Antonioni's skepticism in Blowup, a 1966 drama on a fashion photographer who believes that a picture he took of two lovers in a park shows evidence of a murder, is seen in works of young directors such as Jia Zhangke, Wang Xiaoshuai and Lu Xuechang.

His unique use of color in Red Desert, and his interpretation of the relation between characters and the setting, all have Chinese apprentices.

Jia, the leading figure of the sixth generation, is an avid viewer of Antonioni's films and books. He says it was Antonioni who inspired him to realize that space can communicate with people. In his award-winning Still Life, (Sanxia Haoren), the interaction between the characters and the gorges area shows itself in many details.

Wu's own favorite is Antonioni's China, a 1972 documentary on the country and its people during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76).

The most impressive scenes were shot in a small fair the director found on the way. He stopped by and shot the ordinary Chinese people.

"The takes of one face after another looking at the camera are really striking," Wu says. "The way they showed their curiosity was part of truth and he would take as it was. You can also find a similar style of shooting in Jia Zhangke's works."

Compared to Antonioni, Bergman's work seems harder to approach, because of the issues he deals with, such as morality, death and broken personalities are more philosophical.

Bergman's screenplays were introduced to China in the late 1970s. Many Chinese writers read his scripts before seeing his films, says Jia, who thinks Bergman's influence on Chinese literature is even greater than on Chinese cinema.

Internationally acclaimed director Ang Lee, busily engaged in the post-production of his latest film Lust, Caution, had to cease work out of sadness when he heard of Bergman's death, says EDKO Film Ltd., one of the film's investors.

Lee once said that Bergman's The Virgin Spring was like a personal revelation to him.

"Bergman made me realize the existence of the director and the power of art house film," he writes.

To young mainland director Zhang Yibai, Bergman is a cinematic master. "He is adept in making a film full of philosophical and poetic flavor," he was quoted as saying.

"His impact on my filmmaking is probably not as much as that on my attitude toward life and world. He helps me to know what kind of attitudes I should hold towards religion and life."

Zhang also says Bergman often made him feel inferior, because many of the things he wanted to do he often found that the Swedish director had done years ago.

"Many Chinese directors would love to shoot films like Bergman's, but they dare not, it is too hard," says film critic Zhou Liming.

Zhang Xianmin, professor of Beijing Film Academy, thinks it is almost impossible for Chinese filmmakers to copy the two.

"Most Chinese do not share the same religion, while religion is a foremost issue in Bergman's films," he says. "His reflections on religion, therefore, are totally different from that of Chinese."

Also Zhang thinks that Antonioni has a deep understanding of middle class struggles, while China's own middle class is a rising group leading a relatively comfortable life. "At most they are bored, far away from feeling pain," he says.

Li Yang, director of Blind Shaft (Mang Jing), a stark picture about Chinese coal miners, does not agree. To Li, who spent 14 years studying and living in Germany, at the core of the two filmmakers' movies is a willingness to explore humanity in their own unique way.

"China has its own faith, its own style of middle class," he says, "even if we lacked them, man's feel of non-communication, confusion, alienation and loneliness is universal."

The point is, Li says, if you want to learn from them, you should explore humanity, to come up with your own thoughts on the relationship between people and society.

"Otherwise, you are just copying, not even approaching the core of their works," he adds.

Even though they mourn for the masters' passing, the filmmakers remain optimistic.

"Many people are saying a generation is ending, but I think every era has its own masters," Wu says.

"Both Bergman and Antonioni are great, but what lies in their works is their meditation on their times. This era's masters-to-be must turn to their own times."

(China Daily August 4, 2007)