(China Daily) Chinese film phenomenon Wolf Warrior 2 was selected as the Chinese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 90th Academy Awards this month.
As a commercial blockbuster, Wolf Warrior 2 achieved huge success both at the box office and in public praise. More importantly, it redefined China's entry for Oscar awards.
Some people are excited to see Wolf Warrior 2 flying the flag for China in an Oscar bid, while others think otherwise.
Wolf Warrior 2 received praise for its patriotic plot, action sequences and the cast's performances but was criticized for excessive attention to visual effects and a plot short of "themes"
Only four Chinese films have been officially nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film, despite submissions each year since 1979. The four are Ju Dou, Raise the Red Lantern and Hero, directed by Zhang Yimou, and Farewell My Concubine, by Chen Kaige.
Meanwhile, other films have found awards success, outside the Oscars. Red Sorghum won the coveted Golden Bear at the 1988 Berlin Film Festival; To Live won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, Best Actor and Grand Prix at the 47th Cannes Film Festival; The Story of Qiu Ju won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival in 1992.
Those films may have different directors, plots and performances, but they all boast a strong artistic atmosphere and memorable moments.
They are referred to as "literary films".
At that time, literary films seemed to win the favor of western film festival juries and occupy a huge market share in the Chinese mainland. Indeed, the twenty years from 1985 to 2005 represent the golden period for Chinese literary films and make the world better understand Chinese film as an art form.
However, a vicious circle began to make inroads on the film industry in China.
Quite a few directors paid too much attention to producing literary films, despite public response and box office failure. And in many research centers and institutions of higher learning, teachers have advocated the French New Wave while looking down on commercial films.
"At that time, young people would rather watch Hong Kong comedies and costume films through renting VCDs at home than support ongoing art films at the theaters," says Wang Yichuan, director of the School of Arts at Peking University.
"The film industry in the Chinese mainland was out of line with the general public at that time. Movies should play the role of enriching people's daily lives before acting as a tool to win film awards," says Wang.
Luckily, the vicious circle has been broken in the past five years. Many top-grossing movies, including Wolf Warrior 2, Monster Hunt, and Operation Mekong have shaken the world film market and achieved massive success, both commercial and in public response, proving the power of the Chinese film industry.
"Just imagine if Chinese filmmakers could produce 10 or more blockbusters similar to Wolf Warrior 2 every year. Then Chinese films can be a pretty competitive match to Hollywood. At this time, it is not a big deal whether Chinese films win Oscars, because we have a bigger voice in the film industry across the world," said Nanjing Normal University professor Zhou Anhua.
"It took more than 100 years to form the American film industry, and some fundamental concepts and standards for excellent movies cannot be changed easily. Movies like Kung Fu Panda and Mulan are based on the taste of American audiences. Some so-called Chinese-style elements in the movies are apparently not the true reflection of Chinese feelings and traditions," movie expert Zhu Yi said.
Chinese director Gu Yu echoes this opinion. "Oscar judges have their own standards when they select candidate films, while our domestic directors still have to follow our own standards when producing films. After all, the top priority for Chinese films should be to be beloved by the Chinese people."
Source: By Zhang Xingjian | chinadaily.com.cn