CHINA, ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIE REVIEW: Ke Ke Xi Li
By Leslie Sun
In 2004, the Chinese movie industry gained its pride both with film critics and at the box-office. Director Zhang Yimou's House of Flying Daggers, Feng Xiaogang's A World Without Thieves, and Steven Chou’s Kung-fu, all won respect and a lot of money. Among them, however, another movie also captured people's attention. It has no visual effects nor movie stars, but Ke Ke Xi Li shocked every viewer's heart.
In this his second movie--about the slaughter of rare, endangered antelopes in the far west of China--director Lu Chuan showed great abilities in controlling the movie and in casting the actors. Instead of professional actors, Lu chose local mountain patrols to play themselves. Lu said it was because the shooting condition was extremely severe, and that real actors could not have breathed normally on the Qing-Zang Plateau. But I believe there's another reason: professional actors can't restrain their desire to 'act.' They don't know how to underplay a role. No movie star in China could play a poaching patrol member in the movie Ke Ke Xi Li. I don't mean that there are no good actors in China. There are a lot of them. But I don't see one who could play such roles as those in Ke Ke Xi Li.
As an art form, movies are larger than life. It may be close to reality, but it can't be exactly real. Acting is not living. Actors, especially movie stars, have the air of attackers. They are always there to attack your nerve. If you look deeply into their eyes, you can find "the light." Actors have a subconscious need to show their light. They just can't hide it. Even Morgan Freeman in the Shawshank Redemption couldn't hide it completely. In a movie it's a good thing, but in a docudrama acrors can't make viewers believe that the characters in it actually live their lives that way.
Ke Ke Xi Li is a movie based on a true story, and the director didn't want to make believe. He didn't want to tell a sad and beautiful story to the viewers. He wanted to tell them what was really happening there in Ke Ke Xi Li. He knew very well if he chose super stars (and he could have—in his first movie, The Missing Gun, he had Jiang Wen), the box office would be much higher, but he could never have controlled it. Even the actors themselves couldn't have controlled it. I mean "the light." It's hard to explain further. The patrols have done an excellent job of limiting the wanton killing of antelopes in the western plateaus. The film shocked me. If it was played by real actors, it may have been no more than just another "good movie," but as it is it is a "classic movie."
In 2004, the Chinese movie industry gained its pride both with film critics and at the box-office. Director Zhang Yimou's House of Flying Daggers, Feng Xiaogang's A World Without Thieves, and Steven Chou’s Kung-fu, all won respect and a lot of money. Among them, however, another movie also captured people's attention. It has no visual effects nor movie stars, but Ke Ke Xi Li shocked every viewer's heart.
In this his second movie--about the slaughter of rare, endangered antelopes in the far west of China--director Lu Chuan showed great abilities in controlling the movie and in casting the actors. Instead of professional actors, Lu chose local mountain patrols to play themselves. Lu said it was because the shooting condition was extremely severe, and that real actors could not have breathed normally on the Qing-Zang Plateau. But I believe there's another reason: professional actors can't restrain their desire to 'act.' They don't know how to underplay a role. No movie star in China could play a poaching patrol member in the movie Ke Ke Xi Li. I don't mean that there are no good actors in China. There are a lot of them. But I don't see one who could play such roles as those in Ke Ke Xi Li.
As an art form, movies are larger than life. It may be close to reality, but it can't be exactly real. Acting is not living. Actors, especially movie stars, have the air of attackers. They are always there to attack your nerve. If you look deeply into their eyes, you can find "the light." Actors have a subconscious need to show their light. They just can't hide it. Even Morgan Freeman in the Shawshank Redemption couldn't hide it completely. In a movie it's a good thing, but in a docudrama acrors can't make viewers believe that the characters in it actually live their lives that way.
Ke Ke Xi Li is a movie based on a true story, and the director didn't want to make believe. He didn't want to tell a sad and beautiful story to the viewers. He wanted to tell them what was really happening there in Ke Ke Xi Li. He knew very well if he chose super stars (and he could have—in his first movie, The Missing Gun, he had Jiang Wen), the box office would be much higher, but he could never have controlled it. Even the actors themselves couldn't have controlled it. I mean "the light." It's hard to explain further. The patrols have done an excellent job of limiting the wanton killing of antelopes in the western plateaus. The film shocked me. If it was played by real actors, it may have been no more than just another "good movie," but as it is it is a "classic movie."
1 Comments:
At 3:33 AM , Robert Gagnon said...
I agree completely that this is a movie classic. When I saw it the first time, without English subtitles, I loved it with my Chinese wife's commentary helping me to understand the basic plot. Now I have a DVD with English subtitles and I found the reviewing great!! I didn't know that the actors were just that, but it makes sense. Ke Ke Qi Li is a true docu-drama!!
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